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Music & Arts
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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Music & Arts
Music & Arts
KOREA 4th floor, Shinwoo Bldg. 5-7 Yongsan 3-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea. 010 5348 0212 / 02 6925 5057 / info@groovekorea.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CEO
Matthew Lamers mattlamers@groovekorea.com Steve Seung-Jin Lee steve.lee@groovekorea.com
Editorial Desk TRAVEL & FOOD EDITOR MUSIC EDITOR COMMUNITY EDITOR INSIGHT EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Art & Design ART DIRECTOR
Josh Foreman joshforeman@groovekorea.com
DESIGNERS
Ethan Thomas mattlamers@groovekorea.com
Daniel Sanchez daniel@groovekorea.com Jumi Leem jmleem@groovekorea.com
Jenny Na jenny@groovekorea.com
Danielle Potgieter danielle@groovemedia.co.kr
Matthew Lamers mattlamers@groovekorea.com
Adela Ordoñez aordonez612@gmail.com
Elaine Ramirez elaine@groovekorea.com
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EDITOR-AT-LARGE
John M. Rodgers jmrseoul@gmail.com
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John Burton johncburton3@gmail.com
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Contributors PHOTOGRAPHERS
WRITERS, PROOFREADERS R.M. Adamson, Ben Landau, Belle Nachmann, Lisa Pollack, Michelle Farnsworth, Nathan Schwartzman, Read Urban, Ara Cho, Daniel Vorderstrasse, Paloma Julian, Elaine Knight, Dean Crawford, Conor O’Reilly, Rajnesh Sharma, George Kim, Tighe Burke, Gwen Devera Waden, Colin Owen Griffin.
James Little, Colin Roohan, Rayiaz Khan, Duk-hwa, Dylan Goldby, Romin Lee Johnson, Mike Hurt, Seok Oh-yu, Luc Forsyth, Galvin Hinton, Victoria Burgamy, Gwen Devera Waden, Ryan Noel, Oh Ju-seok, Melissa Hubley, Elizabeth Papile, Gavin Hinton.
PUBLISHER
Sean Choi sean@groovekorea.com
To contact Groove Korea for advertising, submissions or general comments, please email: info@groovekorea.com. The articles are the sole property of GROOVE KOREA. No reproduction is permitted without the express written consent of GROOVE KOREA. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. Issue Date: Nov. 1, 2012 Registration Date: January 25, 2008 Registration No.: Seoul Ra 11806
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All rights reserved Groove Korea Magazine 2012
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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FROM THE EDITOR
Japan’s wartime sex slaves
still matter Former sex slaves to the Japanese Imperial Army have protested outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul every Wednesday since 1992. There have been more than 1,045 protests. Most weeks they are joined by their allies, supporters or family members. They protest because no Japanese official has stood before them to apologize for the rape they endured at the hands of Japanese soldiers — through a despicable system created by Japan’s government — nor have they received a penny of compensation from the government of Japan. From 1932 to 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army incorporated a system of institutionalized sexual slavery that victimized up to 200,000 Korean women. It used coercion, deception, kidnapping and physical violence to recruit women to fill the army’s “comfort stations.” A series of UN and Hague reports has demand-
ed that Japan own up to the war crimes — both legally and morally. One 1996 UN report says, “The Government of Japan has both a legal and a moral obligation towards the women kept in military sexual slavery.” Two years later, another report, also from the UN, reads, “It is now clear that both the Japanese Government and military were directly involved in the establishment of rape centres throughout Asia.” Then in 2001, a War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague found “incontrovertible evidence verifies that the Japanese government and military used military personnel, local agents such as police officers, village headmen and private traffickers in the recruitment process for sex slaves.” Some members of Japanese society and officials at varied levels of government have issued apologies over the years, but they were widely rejected by victims as not meeting their seven-point criteria.
It’s shameful for a country as developed as Japan to continue to deny its victims justice. More shameful is Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who in August of this year made the claim that evidence does not exist that women were forcibly taken to be used as sex slaves. Then on Sept. 23, just one month later, he declared the matter of sexual slavery “closed.” For the former sex slaves in Korea who survive, the matter is far from closed. Help them convince Japan to come to terms with its atrocities. Time is running out. Editorial by
Matthew Lamers Editor-in-chief Have something to say? mattlamers@groovekorea.com
Hot on: w w w.gro ovekorea.c om
Insight:
Destinations:
Destinations:
Korea chooses a president
A pilgrimage in India
A pilgrimage in Korea
On Dec. 19 Koreans throughout the country will head to the voting booths to choose their president for only the sixth time since free elections began in 1987. While democracy in South Korea may remain in its infancy, it is in no way lacking in drama or interest. This year is no exception. With a split vote between a fiercely popular independent, well established party on the left, and the daughter of Korea’s most infamous dictator on the right, this election will undoubtedly prove to be fascinating. As the well regarded journalist Michael Breen wrote in his book “The Koreans” (2004), “There is a joke among political scientists that if you put two Koreans on a deserted island, they would form three political parties...” With that in mind, Groove Korea presents to you the three major candidates running for the office of president of the Republic of Korea in 2012.
While gods and demons were fighting over a “nectar of immortality,” four drops fell to the ground and sanctified the cities of Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik. To this day, those cities at the Ganges attract Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to wash away their sins so they can attain Moksha, which ensures they become eligible for liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The great “feast of the pitcher,” the Maha Kumbh Mela, is held at regular intervals every 12 years when the planet Jupiter enters Aquarius and the Sun enters Aries. The Kumbh Mela is the biggest Hindu pilgrimage and the largest gathering of pilgrims in the world. More than 90 million pilgrims are expected this year in the town of Allahabad, where Maha Kumbh Mela takes place from Jan. 27 through Feb. 25. If you have the courage to plunge into these crowds, you will be rewarded with unforgettable, unique impressions of devotion, spirituality and Indian religious culture.
Last year, Tony MacGregor and his team became the first people to reenact Wonhyo’s pilgrimage across the peninsula since the Buddhist monk completed it over 1,300 years ago. The pilgrimages share similarities: Both were undertaken in a time when the Korean Peninsula was fraught with division. Wonhyo’s life overlapped the struggles of the Three Kingdoms and the Unified Silla period, MacGregor’s pilgrimage took place in a time when the peninsula is not only divided by armies, but also by deep socioeconomic rifts. While on the trail, MacGregor said he enjoyed interacting with people. “People in the countryside are a joy. They are natural and genuine, not trying to impress and not trying to imitate something out of a magazine.” In September, they returned to the trail to “celebrate Wonhyo’s message of oneness and unity” and make a documentary film about the pilgrimage.
By Dirk Schlottman Read it online in November or in print in December.
By Matthew Lamers Read it online in November or in print in December.
By James Little Read it online in November or in print in December.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
AI G N ERMU N I C H . CO M
CONTENTS
N 73 .
CONTENTS N o v e m b e r
2 0 1 2
page
38 Chasing autumn These eight mountains are ripe for pretty pictures — especially in November
page
56
welcome
08
Editorial: Sex slaves still matter It’s shameful for a country as developed as Japan is to continue to deny its victims justice. More shameful is Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who in August made the claim that evidence does not exist that women were forcefully taken to be used as sex slaves
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Must Reads Editor’s picks
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The Inbox What our readers have to say
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Korea Beat Salacious news from around Korea
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Calendar November’s events
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Vegetarianize me Five restaurants to steer you clear of tiresome encounters, away from those humdrum boiled carrots, and from the carry-your-dinner-on-a-plastic-tray thing
Insight
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Japan’s shame: wartime sex slaves Kim Bok-dong is 87 years old. She is articulate, smart, dignified and kind. And for eight years she was raped every day by Japanese soldiers
30
My 3 years as a sex slave for Japan First-hand account from a “comfort woman”
34
Banking for expats The Real Name Law
36
Repatriate me On the road again
destinations
42
Slowing down in Samjinae The grind of the subway, screeching sound systems outside shops and the dank stench of trash on the streets gets to all of us. With that in mind, consider a break in Samjinae Village, an official “Slow City” in the Damyang region in South Jeolla Province
44
Tale of two temples Songgwangsa and Seonamsa share a mountain, but they’re worlds apart
48
The elusive Sri Lankan leopard Safari through Yala National Park, Sri Lanka
food & Drink
52
Veganize me Daily vegan eating patterns around here are remarkably similar to those in other places, tweaked and altered to fit your environs. Check out Groove Korea’s guide to cooking vegan Korean, as well as some of our top picks for vegan restaurants
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Paloma’s cookbook Mussel croquettes and béchamel
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Read’s cookbook Chow down on autumn shellfish
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Remedy for crustacean frustration Louisiana-style Cajun cookin’
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CONTENTS
N 73 .
CONTENTS N o v e m b e r
2 0 1 2
page
44
Road Tripping This month’s featured road trip is to South Jeolla Province
page
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music
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Rubber Seoul: party with a cause For the first time ever, the highly anticipated Rubber Seoul charity concert will fall on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. Last year’s event was attended by 750 supporters and raised 9.3 million won
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International indie showcase Kuang Program, Sighborggg, Lymbyc Systym, Beach House, Grimes
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SuperColorSuper is alive For years, SuperColorSuper was the premier concert organizer in Korea for affordable, awesome indie music. Now they’re back with a full winter lineup
Capturing Korea: Waon Beach, South Jeolla Province Waon Beach sees far fewer visitors than nearby Suncheon Bay, yet its character and beauty is deep. Much of the fishing village has been built on the slopes of the mountain
arts
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Playing with dolls “A Doll’s House” runs for two weekends, Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and Dec. 7-Dec. 9
74
Pyongyang International FIlm Festival While ostensibly the event has much in common with other international festivals, there are a few key differences. Foreign films are often censored and tend to emphasize themes of loyalty, family values and the perils of capitalism. Homegrown movies mix communist propaganda with tearjerker drama
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At the box office “Skyfall,” “Argo”
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Korean DVD corner “Nameless Gangster,” “Helpless”
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Entertain me
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Comics Charisma Man ponders his life in Korea; ROKetship can’t find any “big size” pants; Dear Korea takes a dig at Konglish T-shirts and Lee Scott can’t find football on TV
Crossword & sudoku Be the first to send us the right answer sheet to any of these games and win a prize. Email mattlamers@groovekorea.com
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Photo Challenge
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Horoscope
Hotel specials Grand Hilton Seoul, Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, Novotel Ambassador Busan, Lotte Hotel Busan
Where to find Groove Korea We’re at more than 900 locations throughout Korea, but if you still can’t find us, take a look at these pages
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CREDITS
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Connecting
On the cover:
Communities
Japan’s shame
Introducing some of the contributors behind November’s issue.
The International Court of Justice classified Japan’s system of raping women during its conquest of Asia as a crime against humanity. The UN has demanded an apology, and governments from Korea to Canada have condemned the horrifying crimes. Japan has neither apologized to its victims, nor have they received compensation. Only 60 survive. See the full story on Page 20
Mark Eaton U.S.
Mark currently resides with his family in Suncheon City. He has exhibited in public and private galleries such as Prescott Fine Arts Association, Suncheon City Cultural Hall, Gwangju Museum of Art and Gallery Golmok. He is a regular contributor to Gwangju News and Social Discourse of Disquiet. Mark contributed the photographs for this month’s Capturing Korea.
Shelley DeWees U.S.
Originally from Montana, Shelley worked as a vegan chef for a Buddhist monastery before moving to Seoul. She loves British literature and drinks lots of craft beer — the effects of which she counteracts by running 40 miles a week. She’s currently writing a book about marathon training on a vegan diet. She contributed the articles “Veganize Me” and “Vegetarianize Me” to this month’s Groove Korea.
Adela Ordonez Honduras
A freelance Illustrator from Honduras, Adela is studying advertising design in Costa Rica. She is passionate about illustration, travel and music. Her international globetrotting has rubbed off on her work and she has clients in a number of different countries. This month Adela contributed artwork for the finance column in the Insight section.
Cover photo by James Little / Design by Daniel Sanchez
Jenny Na U.S.
Our past three issues:
Jenny is a Korean adoptee with an interest in human rights and social justice issues. Outside of that, she’s in the kitchen making blended beverages, in the yoga studio, at the pool, or at the computer planning her next trip to oceans near and far. Jenny is our Community Editor.
Daniel Sanchez Colombia
Daniel is a graphic artist and typographer, born and raised in South America. Daniel enjoys playing music, letting loose at the noraebang and visiting jazz cafes. He loves sports, mini-golf and hunting for ethnic food venues. Catch him on the KBS show “Go Go Korea” as he and his brother explore Korea’s cuisine. He is a visual arts graduate student and Groove Korea’s art director.
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
Korean identity, Steve McCurry interview, Jarasum International Jazz Festival
Eat Your Kimchi, Korea’s dying markets, In memoriam: Kari Bowerman & Cathy Huynh
Korea’s rail adventures, studying Korean, the streets of Seoul
Check out past issues at
www.groovekorea.com 15
CONTENTS
Must Reads Time running out for wartime sex slaves
A tale of two temples
Page 20
Page 42
Kim Bok-dong is 87 years old. She is articulate, smart, dignified and kind. And for eight years, she was raped daily by Japanese soldiers. She and dozens of other survivors are still waiting for a sincere apology from Japan.
Songgwangsa — important, modern and bustling with tourists — stands in stark contrast to the ancient, quiet grounds of Seonamsa, which is only a 6-kilometer hike away on Jogye Mountain. This is the second installment in our column, “Road Tripping.”
Vegetarianize me
Veganize me
Page 54
Page 50
Korea is teeming with veggie-friendly eateries waiting to be discovered. These five places turn up the heat on the average, employ the best of ingredients, and wrap the whole experience up in a better package than your typical veg-only place may offer.
Daily vegan eating patterns around here are remarkably similar to those in other places, tweaked and altered to fit your environs. Living off of things shipped in boxes is out of the question when there’s a veritable feast of delicious Korean bounty all around you.
Indie music showcase
Best 10,000 won concert of the winter
Page 64
Page 62
SuperColorSuper has announced they are going back to their roots, bringing in international acts starting in November: Brace yourself for Lymbyc System, Beach House and Grimes. November features Sighborggg and Kuang Program.
Rubber Seoul is a fundraiser/awareness campaign for HIV/AIDS. Bands at this year’s event include Angry Bear, The Rub, Magna Fall, Love X Stereo, The Studs Lonigan Experience and Harry Big Button.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Groove’s Inbox What’s on your mind? Share your thoughts on a Groove article: Did you love it? Did it suck? Are you planning a charity concert and want to spread the word? This is your page — get your message out! Facebook it; tweet it; email it to submissions@groovekorea.com
Groovekorea.com Re: A life not lived What an amazing recap of, well, your life! As a fellow Korean adoptee, who also went back to Korea to reconnect for a while, I practically 100 percent recognize myself in your words and how you describe this ongoing experience of being adopted between non-white, non-Korean in that third place, which I haven’t quite been able to grasp as eloquently yet. Thank you so much. — Mette Hornbek Re: Korea’s dying markets I just visited Garak Market this past weekend because I like the experience of large fresh produce filled markets. They are disappearing all over the world thanks to the big corporations. Support your local farmers and farmers markets! — Patrick Conn Re: Namsan Kimchi Jjigae My second visit confirmed what I had thought from my initial visit — Namsan Kimchi Jjigae may somewhat satiate a kimchi jjigae craving, but it’s far from the best out there. I went with native Koreans both times and they concurred with me. There’s just something about this place’s jjigae that’s just so bland. It’s not so much that it’s lacking sodium, but it’s just missing a depth and heartiness that makes all the difference between kimchi jjigae and kimchi soup. — Stew
Opinion@groovekorea.com Groove provides exactly what I needed most here in Korea: An accessible source of information into the local scenes and culture. I am more than happy to pay for the subscription and I’m really surprised that you provide the publication so many places for free. Thanks for doing what you do. — Dustin Webster I discovered your magazine at a salon a few month’s ago. It’s a wonderful magazine. I would love to get a subscription while I am here. It’s so hard to find magazines that are about music, culture, and important and interesting things. I thought your article on North Korea was very interesting. I’ve discovered so much about Korea because of your magazine that I might not have found on my own. — Erin Ganley
Facebook.com/groovekorea The Oaks Dental Clinic specializes in using the most advanced technology and techniques to provide the best dental care around. We are a metal free clinic and can perform almost all procedures in less than one hour including fixing crooked teeth, whitening, fillings, cleaning, etc. There is almost never a need for a second or third visit because we have an in-house laboratory. Our internationally trained staff can provide service for you in English and Korean. Located at Gangnam Station, exit 12, our bright and beautiful clinic is here for you. Visit us at: www.facebook.com/ oaksdentalclinic and book your appointment today. Go to the Seoul City facebook page and share your favourite things about the city. Find great restaurants, beautiful views and keep in touch with like-minded people. Check out www.facebook.com/hiseoul — Tony Medina
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MOuRsEi c K A & B EAArTt s
Korea Beat N at i o n a l N e w s
All stories translated by Nathan Schwartzman at www.koreabeat.com and edited by Groove Korea for length and clarity. The opinions expressed here do not represent those of Groove Korea. — Ed.
Gangnam dropout goes on stabbing spree
Judges more lenient than juries: survey
More Koreans dropping meth
A high-school dropout went on a stabbing spree last month at Gyeseong Elementary School in the wealthy district of Gangnam. The teenager went into a classroom of the school where he stabbed six 10-year-old students, leaving one in critical condition. The Bangbae Police Station in Seoul announced that it had apprehended an 18-year-old, only identified by his surname Kim, and is investigating him on six counts of attempted murder. According to police, Kim was armed with a shovel and a toy gun. They didn’t say what he used to stab the students. He forced his way into the classroom where a lesson for fourth-grade students was being held, and stabbed three male students and three female students in a span of five minutes. A boy, Jang, was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery, but his condition remains critical. The other five students had injuries on their arms and stomachs. Police investigators found that Kim, who dropped out of high school before his senior year, had been receiving treatment at a hospital for depression since last spring. Also, at the time of the attack, Kim had a note on his person that read, “I
Prosecutors accused a multilevel marketing company of stealing over 43 billion won from Chosun-jok, a downtrodden group in Korean society. The company’s 54-year-old chairman, Mr. Mun, was indicted in the fourth criminal division of the Seoul Southern District Courts for allegedly stealing the funds from over 10,000 people, including over 4,700 Chosun-jok, through an illegal multi-level marketing company. According to prosecutors, Mun set up a health products business in an office in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, and together with 47-year-old Mr. Jang, currently imprisoned, assembled a sales force of over 1,400 people from July through March of 2010. Mun and Jang are accused of taking in 43.6 billion in membership fees from the sales force. Prosecutors say Mun specifically targeted Chosun-jok, tricking them with promises of being paid according to the number of new members they signed. For example, one Chosun-jok man was installed in the company as a high-ranking executive and then recruited other Chosun-jok through speeches in which he spoke of monthly income of up to 30 million won.
Of some 4,300 people arrested for drug crimes in the first half of this year, 84.5 percent involved psychotropic drugs, an increase from 69.6 percent and 78.7 percent of arrests in the same period in 2010 in 2011, respectively. The availability online of synthetic drugs such as JWH-018 is the primary cause, police say. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced that 4,392 people were arrested on drug charges in the first half of this year, which puts Korea on target to see below 10,000 annual drug arrests for the third consecutive year. Eighty-four percent, or 3,710, of arrests from January to June involved psychotropic drugs such as methamphetamine, LSD and ketamine; 491 arrests (11.2 percent) involved marijuana or hashish; and 191 (4.3 percent) involved other drugs such as opium, morphine, heroin or cocaine.
try so hard but there are things which will just not work out for me. Please take care of my body well but don’t pay for a funeral.” Kim had been preparing for the university entrance examination when he quit school. He bought the shovel online in June for a camping trip with friends. He claims to have bought the toy gun “for survival.” Gyeseong Elementary School is a well-known private school in the Gangnam area. In a meeting held two weeks after the attack, the school’s operating committee and emergency policy committee announced plans to beef up security. They decided to retain three security guards on site 24 hours a day and inspect the identification cards of all visitors. The school is also considering installing CCTV cameras throughout the building and installing emergency buttons in bathrooms.
In Brief Seoul blocks 83 pro-North Korea websites
Most new prosecutors come from SKY schools
As of September the government has identified and blocked 83 overseas websites found to be in violation of the National Security Law because they are pro-North Korea. The Ministry of Unification confirmed the figure, which was originally provided by the Korea Communications Commission, in a
Since 2010, six in 10 newly hired prosecutors have been recruited from the so-called SKY schools in Seoul — Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University. The office of Rep. Lee Chun-seok of the Democratic United Party released Ministry of Justice statistics showing that 365 pros-
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
report to the Overseas Communications Committee of the National Assembly. The blocked sites include the Rodong Shinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, whose servers are located in North Korea. However, many of the other sites have servers located in third countries such as China, Japan and the United States.
ecutors have been hired since 2010, and 235 (64.4 percent) came from the SKY schools. SNU had the most recruits (118, 32.3 percent), followed by 68 from Korea University (18.6 percent) and 49 from Yonsei (13.4 percent).
Wife beaters targeted by provincial investigators A 28-year-old woman from Vietnam didn’t marry the man of her dreams in Korea. In fact, it didn’t take long for to realize she had married a monster. Her 44-year-old husband, known only as Mr. Lee because of Korea’s strict libel laws, was abusive. By the time she finally contacted police from her hospital bed, she had a broken nose and bruises all over her body. Seol Jin-kwae, head of the international crime division in South Gyeongsang Province, told reporters that the man resorted to violence because he was under financial pressure after having lost his job. “The husband lost his job and the wife began picking up some work to pay the bills. The woman told us the man’s debts deepened and he lied to her.” One 33-year-old woman from the Philippines also had to take care of expenses by herself after marrying her Korean husband. She worked as an English teacher to earn money; she was the sole income earner for the family. Her husband was an alcoholic and was abusive, she said. “He was always drinking,” she said. “He told me to cook for him. He said I couldn’t cook Korean food well and then he beat me.” The international crime division in South Gyeongsang Province has arrested 15 husbands who beat their foreign wives. The arrests are part of a wider police investigation into abusive husbands married to foreign women. The men are all at least 40 years old, while
Abusive principal free as police, school do nothing the wives are 16 years younger on average. Korean men living in rural areas are finding it harder to find Korean brides. Women are reluctant to marry aging, relatively poor and socially conservative men who live in the countryside, so those men resort to importing wives from overseas. The women are usually significantly younger and come from impoverished families in Vietnam, China and the Philippines. In fact, upwards of 30 percent of all marriages in rural areas of Korea are between a Korean man and a foreign woman. The 15 assaulted women said their husbands did not allow them to associate with other women of their origin. Nevertheless, Seung Hae-gyeong, head of South Gyeongsang Province Multicutural Center, put the blame on both parties. “The fact is, these women are young, so they don’t know what their responsibilities are, nor do they know their rights; and the husbands often think only of their rights, and not their responsibilities.” Police have arrested without detention the 15 men on charges of assault, including the 44-year-old Mr. Kim, and are continuing to investigate with the help of women’s shelters across the province.
A high school principal in Busan is in hot water after he repeatedly assaulted his students but received little punishment from the school’s foundation or the police. The head of the foundation is the principal’s father, leading to accusations that he protected his son at the expense of students. Even though a recent assault was caught on CCTV, neither the police nor the school acted against the principal. The principal of the private high school, known in the media as “Mr. A,” is accused of assaulting a 16-year-old student, known as “Mr. B,” who had been taking part in an after-school study program. At 8 p.m. on Oct. 26, the principal struck the boy in the face more than 10 times, before grabbing the boy by his hair and throwing him against the wall. The boy suffered symptoms of a concussion. The student’s parents complained to the school, but the principal simply told them that their son was a liar and that he had beaten him softly. “I never hit him hard enough to be called serious,” the principal told them. “(Your son) is telling you lies and has a rebellious attitude, so I punished him from an educational perspective.” The student’s parents then went to the police to accuse Mr. A of assault. Police verified the accusations on the security-camera footage and requested an interview with Mr. A, but were refused. Students and teachers at the school delivered a letter to the Busan City Metropolitan Office of Education, saying that the principal had repeatedly assaulted them. Mr. A, they said, assaulted not only students but also teachers. The office plans to investigate the situation and refer a request for punishment to the appropriate school authority.
Judge dismisses lawsuit by former presidential body of Kim Dae-jung Ham Yun-shik, 69, who was a body guard for late President Kim Dae-jung, has filed a lawsuit against the government for the time he spent in prison during the Chun Doo-hwan era. The suit was quickly tossed out by presiding chief judge Lee Chang-hyeong. Ham and four family members filed the lawsuit in the Seoul Central District
Court’s 15th civil division against former President Chun Doo-hwan and the head of investigations of the Martial Law Enforcement Headquarters. They are asking the government to compensate them in the amount of 45 million won. The claims against former President Chun and the former head of the Martial Law Enforcement Headquarters were im-
mediately thrown out. During Chun Doo-hwan’s reign, Ham was convicted of spreading false rumors and sent to prison. Years later that verdict was overturned by an appeals court. “I served time in prison after being indicted for spreading false facts,” Ham said in the lawsuit. “During that time, my family and I suffered psychological injuries for
which we should be compensated.” Ham has also said that he will write a book criticizing former President Chun. It will be titled “24 Hours in Donggyo-dong.”
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INSIGHT
Events November 1st - November 30th
1 - Thursday
2 - Friday
3 - Saturday
4 - Sunday
5 - Monday
6 - Tuesday
7 - Wednesday
Film: Screenings for the 48 Hour Film Festival @ Megabox theater in Dongdaemun; Nov. 1-3
Music: Dr. Dre, The Game, The Dogg Pound, E-40, Slaughter House @ BEXCO in Busan; bexco.co.k; 8 pm
Music: Dr. Dre, The Game, The Dogg Pound, E-40, Slaughter House @ BEXCO in Ilsan; 8 pm
Temple stay: 4 day event @ Jogye Temple is a showcase for the templestay program.
Festival: Busan Biennale @ Busan Museum of Art, Busan Cultural Center; through Nov. 24; busanbiennale.org
Festival: Last day of the Asiana International Short Film Festival @ Cine Cube (Seoul, Jongno-gu); www. aisff.org/2012
Music: Thurston Moore (from Sonic Youth) @ Seoul Art Center; 7 pm
Workshop: “Money isn’t the problem, you are”; @ Camarata Music Company; 7:30 pm
Comedy: Tom Rhodes @ Rocky Mountain Tavern, 10 pm; 30,000 won; standupseoul@gmail.com
Music: Midnight Smokin’ Drive, Love X Stereo, Used Cassettes @ Prism in Hongdae; 9 pm
Festival: Korea Chrysanthemum Festival @ Hampyeong Expo Park, Hampyeong, Jeollanam-do; through Nov. 11; hampyeong.go.kr
Social: Open mic @ Tony’s in Itaweon (Mondays); tonysitaewon.com
Network: Australian and New Zealand Association of Korea putting on Melbourne Cup luncheon @ Grand Hyatt Hotel; 11 am.
Social: Standup comedy (Wednesdays) @ Tony’s in Itaewon; tonysitaewon.com
Festival: Jeju Olle Walking Festival through Nov. 3; ollewalking.co.kr
Exhibit: Matthieu Ricard Photo Exhibition @ Beopryeonsa Temple; Nov. 2-11; seoultibet@ gmail.com
Comedy: Tom Rhodes @ Rocky Mountain Tavern, 10 pm; 30,000 won; standupseoul@gmail.com
Festival: Last day of the Sunchang Sauce Festival @ Sunchang Gochujang Village, Jeollabuk-do; jangfestival.co.kr
See story on page 78
8 - Thursday
9 - Friday
10 - Saturday
11 - Sunday
12 - Monday
13 - Tuesday
14 Wednesday
Music: Kuang Program & Sighborggg @ Cheonan Dolce; buskingkorea.com;
Music: Kuang Program & Sighborggg @ Daegu Horus; buskingkorea.com;
Tour: Old Incheon: A Walk through Korean History since 1876 with Dr. Robert J. Fouser; 1:30 pm; raskb.com
Music: Kuang Program & Sighborggg @ Club FF in Seoul; buskingkorea.com;
Food: Half price fish & chips @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 500 won/wing; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Charity: SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar @ Seoul Museum of History; 9 am; siwapage.com
Food: Cheese steak sandwich night @ Hollywood Grill in Itaewon; (02) 749-1659
Festival: Choenamdan Bangeo Festival @ Moseulpohang Port on Jeju Island; Nov. 8-11; bangeofestival.com
Musical: “Jekyll and Hyde” @ Incheon Culture and Arts Center; Nov. 9-11; 1588-4567
Music: Adam Young, or Owl City @ V-Hall, Seoul; 7 pm; (02) 3323277
Tour: visit to Mokpo’s Japanese-era remains with Robert Koehler; 7 am; raskb.com
Beer: 15,000 won all-you-can-drink @ Beer Garden. Renaissance Hotel; 6-9 pm (every day); (02) 22228630
Food: Wing night @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong (Mondays); http://craftworkstaphouse.com
Beer: All-youcan-drink beer @ Ssada! Maeck Ju in Hongdae; 8,000 won (every day);; (02) 3141-7011
Social: Open mic @ Orange Tree in HBC (Thursdays); (02) 749-8202
15 - Thursday
16 - Friday
17 - Saturday
Happy Hour: 3,000 won off “bomb shots” (all night) @ DOJO in Itaewon
Happy Hour: 2,000 won off beer/wine @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong; 4-6 pm; craftworkstaphouse.com
Music: Norah Jones @ Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium; 7 pm
Social: Quiz night @ 3 Alley Pub in Itaewon; win beer; 3alleypub.com
Music: Disco/ House legend Daniel Wang @ Cakeshop in Itaewon
Music: Busan Live — Battle of the Bands @ Vinyl Underground; Nov. 17, 24 & Dec. 1, 8
Happy Hour: All-you-can drink @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 25,000 won for Big Rock beer or 15,000 for OB; 7-10 pm; bigrockbeer.co.kr
See story on page 66
For suggestions or comments email Matthew Lamers: mattlamers@groovekorea.com
18 - Sunday
*All the events published in this calendar are subject to unforeseen changes by the promoters. Groove Korea does not take responsibility for any missunderstandings or third party damage.
19 - Monday
20 - Tuesday
21 Wednesday
22 - Thursday
23 - Friday
24 - Saturday
Food: Sunday Buffet Brunch @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 11,000 won; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Food: Wing Night @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 500 won/wing; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Food: Pasta night @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong (Tuesdays); http://craftworkstaphouse.com
Happy Hour: All-you-can drink @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 25,000 won for Big Rock beer or 15,000 for OB; 7-10 pm; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Beer: Men’s night @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong (Thursdays); 2,000 won off single malts and 1,000 won off all beers
Happy Hour: All-you-can drink @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 25,000 won for Big Rock beer or 15,000 for OB; 7-10 pm; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Music: Yellow Monsters, Locofrank, Crying Nut, Galaxy Express @ V-Hall in Seoul; 7 pm
Happy Hour: 3,000 won off Jack Daniels and Finlandia Vodka (all day) @ DOJO in Itaewon
Social: Open mic @ Tony’s in Itaweon (Mondays); tonysitaewon.com
Food: Wing night @ 3 Alley Pub in Itaewon; 3alleypub. com
Beer: Beer buffet @ 200 Bran Hauns; 9,900 won; Mon, Thurs, Sun at 5 pm; (02) 34819062
Grand opening: New Buddha’s Belly beside Berlin (on the bill); 9 pm to late
Info: Free shuttle bus Seoul-Jeonju every day; Seoul departure 8 a.m.; Jeounju Departure 5 p.m.; visitkorea@ chesstours.co.kr
Network: St. Andrew’s Ball @ Grand Hyatt Hotel; 7 pm; vonda.roddick@seoulforeign. org
Self-help: AA meeting @ the International Lutheran Church; 5 p.m.
Food: Half price fish & chips @ Big Rock in Gangnam; 500 won/wing; bigrockbeer.co.kr
Lecture: Energy Policy in Korea with special attention to Nuclear Energy Policy @ Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace; 9 pm; raskb.com
See story on page 72
25 - Sunday
26 - Monday
27 - Tuesday
28 Wednesday
29 - Thursday
30 - Friday
Food: Sunday Roast @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong; craftworkstaphouse.com
Food: Wing night @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong (Mondays); http://craftworkstaphouse.com
Music: Elton John @ Olympic Park Gymnasium in Seoul; 8 pm
Happy Hour: 2,000 won off glasses of house wine (all night) @ DOJO in Itaewon
Food: Ongoing: Fish Market Tour, Vegan Taste Tour, Night Dining Tour; ongofood.com
Music: Brian McKnight @ AX-Korea in Seoul; 8 pm; http:// ax-korea.co.kr
Beer: All-you-candrink beer @ Pho Mons in Gangnam; 4,900 won for 2 hours (every day); (02) 514-0513
Beer: 15,000 won all-you-can-drink @ Beer Garden. Renaissance Hotel; 6-9 pm (every day); (02) 22228630
Food: 2 For 1 fish & chips @ Wolfhound (Tuesdays); wolfhoundpub.com
Social: Quiz night @ Craftworks in Noksapyeong (Wednesdays); http://craftworkstaphouse.com
Beer: 15,000 won all-you-can-drink beer @ Beer Garden, Renaissance Hotel, Gangnam (every day, 6-9 p.m.); (02) 22228630
Beer: Beer buffet @ 200 Bran Hauns; 9,900 won; Mon, Thurs, Sun at 5 pm; (02) 34819062
Lecture: Mountains of Baekdu Daegan in North and South Korea @ Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace; 9 pm; raskb.com
Food: Cheese steak sandwich night @ Hollywood Grill in Itaewon; (02) 749-1659
See story on page 70
INSIGHT
Japan’s shame Surviving sex slaves still await justice Story by Dave Hazzan / Artwork by Kang Duk-Kyeong, Ryu Jun-hwa
“There are no records confirming that women were taken away by force.” — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
“Incontrovertible evidence verifies that the Japanese government and military used military personnel, local agents such as police officers, village headmen and private traffickers in the recruitment process for sex slaves.” — Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, The Hague
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
“Blooming flower” by Ryu Jun-hwa
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Kim Bok-dong is 87 years old. She is articulate, smart, dignified and kind. And for eight years she was raped every day by Japanese soldiers. Kim described how when the Japanese colonized Korea in the early 20th century, she was “unlucky” enough to be 14 years old. She was taken — she didn’t explain exactly how. “When asked where I was being taken, they said I was being taken to a factory to make military uniforms,” Kim said in an interview. If she didn’t go, she was told, her family would be exiled. So she went. But she was not taken to Japan or to work in a factory. “It was a very distant country,” Kim said. “On the battlefield.” It was the South Pacific. She was there with about 30 other women and girls. “I went to a base camp of the Japanese military,” Kim said. From there, the Imperial Army took her wherever it conquered: China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand. “Every place the army went, (we) followed. It lasted eight years.” The war ended while Kim was in Singapore. Uniformed men told her to get into a truck with just the clothes on her back. “The truck had a big cross on it, and it drove to Bangkok.” There were no soldiers there, just a hospital. She lived in the hospital, trained as a nurse, treated wounded soldiers, cleaned clothes and “was forced to give blood until I fainted.” Later, when there were no more Japanese soldiers, the U.S. Army came. She was put in their custody and lived in a detention camp. They examined her and found out she was Korean, and after a few months she was sent back to Korea. She was 22 years old.
“No direct descriptions of forcible recruitment have been found in military and other Japanese official records obtained by the government.” — Jin Matsubara, chairman of Japan’s National Public Safety Commission and Rape of Nanking denier
Kim was not willing to give details of what happened to her at the hands of the Imperial Japanese armed forces. But other women have. In testimonies collected by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 10 “comfort women,” as the Japanese referred to them, have told their stories in brutal detail. They were among some 200,000 Korean sex slaves in the service of the Japanese Imperial Army. Lee Ok-sun was 15 when she was “adopted” to a noodle shop in Busan, because her parents could not afford to care for her. She was promised an education. Instead, she was made to work before being sold to an inn in Ulsan. It was in Ulsan where she was kidnapped by two men, forced onto a truck, and driven to the train station. She ended up in China with other women. They were given Japanese names and were then “raped like animals” by the soldiers, in front of other soldiers. From then on she was kept in a series of “comfort stations” in China, where she was starved, beaten and raped daily by Japanese soldiers until the end of the war. She stayed in China after the war, and didn’t return to Korea until 2000. In 1944, Kim So-ran volunteered to work in a hospital in the Philippines. Upon arrival, she found it disturbing when doctors gave her a vaginal exam. Then she was forced to live in a comfort station with 10 other girls, where they were raped daily by Japanese soldiers. After the base was bombed, she managed to escape with some others, trekking through the jungle and staying alone on the beaches for a month until they were found by an American patrol ship.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
“It is the belief of the Special Rapporteur that the Government of Japan has both a legal and a moral obligation towards the women kept in military sexual slavery during the Second World War.” — UN report on the issue of military sexual slavery in wartime
Park Doo-ri thought she was going to work in a Japanese factory when she boarded a ship in Busan in 1940. She was sent to Taiwan instead, and was raped every day until the war ended. She was beaten repeatedly by the house owner, and she developed swelling in her left thigh that had to be operated on. When anyone doubts that Park was taken to a comfort station, she has the scar to prove it. Kang Il-chul was kidnapped from her home in Usan-ri, North Gyeongsang Province, by a police officer in 1944. She was put on a truck, sent to China, and raped and beaten for the first time by a high-ranking official. When she refused him the second time, the man broke her arm and thumb, so that her thumb bone jutted out from her skin. She was raped even after she contracted typhoid fever. After she could no longer serve soldiers because of the fever, she was sent to a mountain to be burned to prevent the spread of typhoid fever. She was freed by Korean resistance soldiers. Kim Kun-ja was 17 in 1942 when her foster father, a police officer, sent her away to make money. She was taken by a Korean man in his late thirties, put on a train to China, and sent to a comfort station. One Japanese soldier hit her so hard it ruptured her right ear drum, from which she still can’t hear today. Even though the soldiers were ordered to wear condoms, Kim still contracted syphilis. She later became pregnant and was forced to have an abortion. She was captive at the station until the war ended. These and the other stories are characteristic of what Korea and Japan were at the time: Japan, a brutal occupying army intent on conquering Asia, while making sure their soldiers had access to women’s and girls’ bodies whenever they wanted; and Korea, a dirt poor, badly educated and rigidly patriarchal society occupied by the Japanese, whose daughters were forced into the sexual service of the Empire. Today, two organizations struggle alongside the surviving wartime sex slaves for public awareness and recompense from the Japanese. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, or Korea Council for short, was, according to its website, established in 1990 “with its goals to resolve the issue of the military sexual slavery by Japan and thereby recover the human rights and dignity of the victims, stop the revival of the Japanese militarism, prevent sexual violence against women in armed conflicts, and contribute to world peace.”
Courtesy the War and Woman’s Human Rights Museum
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It is an amalgam of 20 different women’s organizations researching the disappearance of Korean women during the war, and trying to find out why so many did not come back. The second organization, the Women’s Global Solidarity Action Network, or WGSAN, is also an organization that fights to recognize the horrors of the Japanese “comfort” system and to eradicate sexual slavery and violence today. It includes more expatriates than the Korea Council. Fielding Hong and Heather Inghram are both volunteers with WGSAN, and give English-language tours of the new War and Women’s Human Rights Museum, which opened in Seoul this May. Hong is a 27-year-old American graduate student at Yonsei University. Inghram, 28, is also American, and an English teacher. Both are concerned not just with helping the former sex slaves but also with issues of war, sexual slavery and violence today. The new museum in Seongsan, Seoul, is small but richly detailed. In front of a large map of the Japanese Empire at its height, Hong explained that the first comfort station was set up in 1932 in Shanghai. But it was the infamous Rape of Nanking in 1937 that became the catalyst for making the system empire-wide. During the Rape of Nanking, between 20,000-80,000 women were raped and mutilated by Japanese soldiers. The Japanese, with the idea of stopping sexually transmitted infections, preventing espionage, boosting morale and preventing the rape of local women, decided to implement the comfort station system throughout the Japanese empire. By 1942, that empire stretched from Manchuria in the north to Indonesia in the south. According to the 1996 United Nations document “Report on the mission to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and Japan on the issue of military sexual slavery in wartime,” approximately 200,000 Korean women were involved in the sex slave system. The number of women from Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and other countries conscripted by the Japanese Imperial Army to work as sex slaves is estimated to be as high as half a million. As the testimonies show, some were kidnapped, some were coerced, and many were tricked. “Not only do (the regulations) reveal beyond doubt the extent to which the Japanese forces took direct responsibility for the comfort stations and were intimately connected with all aspects of their organization, but they also clearly indicate how legitimized and established an institution the stations had become … It is the belief of the Special Rapporteur that the Government of Japan has both a legal and a moral obligation towards the women kept in military sexual slavery during the Second World War.” “These were poor, colonized women, women who thought they were going to work overseas or going into the women’s volunteer corps,” Hong said. “Think of the choice — you are hungry and desperate. Only 5 percent of the population had elementary school education or higher. Men often thought the women would go away and send money home.” Some did go away to work in factories and hospitals, but most didn’t. The system “was a top-down, planned and highly regulated system,” Hong said. “They kept meticulous records on the women,” such as information about their virginity statuses, histories of sexually transmitted infections and menstrual cycles. “It was the most efficient system made to serve as many soldiers as possible.” Comfort stations could be static or mobile. More permanent ones looked much like brothels today, with one long corridor and rooms branching out. But sometimes it was simply a ditch, where women were sometimes raped in the middle of battle, “with bombs and bullets whizzing overhead.” Though there was no direct evidence at the time in Korea, there was a realization that something was going on. There were ads in newspapers looking for missing daughters. And there were those Koreans who were complicit in the system. Korea then had a strict patriarchal system. Women had no control of their own bodies. They could not leave home without the senior male’s permission. They could be bought and sold as house servants. At the same time, state-sanctioned “pleasure zones” were set up in Korea for the service of colonial officials, and often Koreans themselves used them. Inghram said later in an email interview, “It is our team’s belief that a (sex slavery) system on this grand of a scale could not have existed without the patriarchal structure. Also, there was not much ‘choice’ in a situation where families were barely subsisting and were starving, struggling to live.” It wasn’t until 1991, 46 years after the war ended, that the first wartime sex slave came out using her real name. Kim Hak-soon was born in Manchuria to Korean parents, went back to Korea as a child, and was enrolled by her stepfather into a gisaeng (similar to the Japanese geisha) school. She was taken to Beijing by her stepfather during the war, but they somehow became separated.
“There is no evidence that the comfort women were taken by force or coerced by the Japanese military.” — Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
She was first raped there and then put into the sex slavery system. She eventually escaped and married a Korean in China, had two children and lived in Shanghai, returning to Korea at the end of the Korean War. The big question is why she, and hundreds of others, waited until 1991 and later to “come out” as wartime sex slaves, using their real names. (Anonymous stories had been told earlier.) According to Inghram, there was an immense “social stigma in a patriarchal society” about being labeled a prostitute. It was after her husband passed away, and she heard Japan deny any knowledge or involvement in the sex slave system, that she came out. This set the stage for more women to come out. In total, 235 women registered with the South Korean government as former “comfort women,” 60 of whom are still alive. In North Korea, another 237 are registered, and it’s unknown how many survive. All of them tell stories similar to the testimonies above. The number of registered women is low. Hong explained that this largely has to do with some women staying in the countries they were trafficked to, often moving into the local sex industry, and others being killed, sometimes thrown into mass graves. Others have stayed quiet or died with their secret. The surviving sex slaves protested outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul for the first time on Jan. 8, 1992. They have been protesting every Wednesday since, making it one of the longest regular protests in the world. On Aug. 15 this year, the protest coincided with Korean Liberation Day. Despite a torrential rainstorm, over 100 people showed up to voice their support and hear Kim Bok-dong speak. Outside the embassy is a statue of a young girl on a bench. It was erected outside the Japanese embassy at the 1,000th protest, on Dec. 14, 2011. According to Kim Mi-kyoung of WGSAN, the empty space on the bench next to the girl is meant to invite you to sit next to the women. A bird on the girl’s shoulder represents hope.
The former sex slaves have seven demands they want the Japanese government to address: 1. Admit to the drafting of comfort women for the Japanese military 2. Apologize officially 3. Reveal the truth about the crime 4. Erect memorial tablets for the victims 5. Pay restitution to the victims and/or their families 6. Teach the truth about this so that similar crimes are not repeated 7. Punish the war criminals
The Japanese insist that much of this has already been done. In a Sept. 23, 2012 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the “matter is closed.” He said compensation had already been paid by the Asian Women’s Fund, which was refused by the Korean side. He said the refusal “hurt the feelings of conscientious Japanese, and is a pity.” Some apologies have been mouthed and some money has been spent, but the former slaves and their advocates feel strongly that this doesn’t approach what is needed, or even what’s fair. In 1965, Japan paid South Korea what was then thought to be $365 million in compensation for colonization — it was later revealed this figure was actually much higher, maybe as much as $800 million. But none of it reached the comfort women. It was used by then-president and dictator Park Chung-hee to boost Korea’s economy. Inghram, citing a Dec. 23, 2005 article by James Card in the Asia Times, said: “Of the huge $800 million pie, Park Chung-hee only distributed about 2.56 billion won ($251 million) to families of workers killed by the Japanese — not recognizing or including the sex slaves — and 6.6 billion won to owners of destroyed property. None of the thousands of South Koreans conscripted into the Japanese military and labor workforce received compensation.” Instead, “Park Chung-hee rerouted the majority of the grants and soft loans into building infrastructure, founding POSCO (Pohang Steel and Iron Co.), and building the Gyeongbu Expressway and Soyang Dam, among other projects.” The Japanese would argue that they bear no responsibility for how Korea spent the restitution money. On New Year’s Day 1992, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa issued a verbal apology, but it was rejected by the surviving sex slaves because it did not address all of their seven demands. It was neither addressed to them personally, nor to any of their representatives, but rather to the Korean government. In 1995, the Japanese government set up the Asian Women’s Fund, which collected donations from private citizens to compensate the former slaves. Jan Ruff O’Hearne, a Dutch former sex slave, described this fund in U.S. Congressional testimony as “an insult to the ‘comfort women’” and she refused to accept it, as did Koreans, because it was solicited from private and industry donations, and not from the Japanese government. The fund was dissolved in 2007. Conservative Japanese politicians and activists have denounced the sex slaves and argued that no one was forced into sexual slavery. On Aug. 27 this year, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda denied that women were forced into slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army when he told the Diet: “There are no records confirming that women were taken away by force.” On the same day Jin Matsubara, chairman of Japan’s National Public Safety Commission, told the Diet that not only were Korean women not sex slaves, but that the Japanese government should revise the 1993 Kono Statement that acknowledged and apologized for the system of sexual slavery. (The Korean side feels the apology, by a chief cabinet secretary, fell far too short.) Just before that, at an Aug. 21, 2012 press conference, rising political star and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said: “There is no evidence that the comfort women were taken by force or coerced by the Japanese military.” In fact, it was a Japanese historian, Yoshimi Yoshiaki, who first found documentary evidence of the system and its application.
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“Innocence stolen” by Kang Duk-kyeong Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
According to the New York Times, it was a “trove that uncovered the military’s direct role in managing the brothels, including documents that carried the personal seals of high-ranking Imperial Army officers.” Japanese activists, too, have gotten involved. Last August, three Japanese set up a stake outside the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum, reading in Japanese, Korean and English: “Comfort Women = Sex Slave is LIE.” Regular demonstrations have taken place in Japan. The 1996 Commission on Human Rights report urged Japan to take full responsibility for the crime under international law. American, Canadian, Dutch and European parliamentary declarations have also demanded Japan own up to its past crimes. On Dec. 4, 2001, the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery delivered a judgment at The Hague. The verdict — which was heavily censored within Japan by its public broadcaster, NHK — found Emperor Hirohito posthumously “guilty of criminal negligence … of the crimes of rape and sexual slavery committed as part of the system of military sexual slavery.” It also found the emperor “guilty of rape and sexual slavery as crimes against humanity under individual responsibility pursuant to Article 3(1) of our Charter.”In total, nine top-ranking Japanese were found criminally responsible under international law for the crimes of sexual slavery and crimes against humanity. The 265-page report found “abundant evidence, most notably from victim-survivor testimony, that the Japanese government and military were involved in all aspects of the sexual slavery system … Japanese officials at the highest levels participated knowingly in the system of sexual slavery.” A lawsuit filed in 1993 by 10 survivors made its way through the Japanese courts, until it was thrown out by the Hiroshima Supreme Court in 2001. The lower courts had ordered the Japanese Cabinet to act and provide compensation.
Park Doo-ri thought she was going to work in a Japanese factory when she boarded a ship in Busan in 1940. She was sent to Taiwan instead, and was raped every day until the war ended. But it isn’t just the rejectionism of the Japanese government that upsets Kim Bok-dong. It’s also the inaction of the Korean government. “President Lee Mung-bak has to urge the Japanese government to apologize for past wrongdoings,” Kim said. She argued that there should be “a resolution” between the Korean and Japanese governments. “But the Korean government has done nothing yet,” she said. “Is there any government without people, is there any president without people? Why is there a government? … We have to protest to our government for a resolution.” The whole situation, she said, is “sad.” Kim also said she dreams “of a country without war” with “North Korean and South Korean people together.” The wartime sex slaves recognize that while their fight continues with the Japanese system, the tragedy of sexual slavery remains today. The mezzanine of the War and Women’s Human Rights museum has displays informing the public about the current tragedy of rape in war, in Congo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The Korea Council has set up a charity called the Butterfly Fund to help victims of wartime rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rape as a weapon of war is common. Kim Bok-dung and another survivor, Gil Won-ok, have pledged to donate any money they receive in compensation from the Japanese to the fund. “My last hope is that our country has peace,” said Kim, the 87-year-old wartime sex slave. “I hope that our country never has such tragedies again. For this, the Korean people, people from all countries, should do something.”
More information The Korea Council www.womenandwar.net
War and Women’s Human Rights Museum www.hermuseum.go.kr
The Women’s Global Solidarity Action Network Email womens.global.solidarity@gmail.com and find them on Facebook
Wednesday protest For more information contact womens.global.solidarity@ gmail.com.
Verdict of the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/womenstribunal2000/Judgement.pdf
The House of Sharing www.nanum.org and comfortwomen.wordpress.com
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
My 3 years as a sex slave for Japan Photos by James Little
Name: Ok-sun Lee Year of Birth: 1927 Drafted Year: 1942 (age 15) Comfort Station: China (Jilin) Year of Return: 2000 (after she lived in China) Current residence: The House of Sharing, Gwangju
I was born on Oct. 10, 1927, the second of six children. I had an older brother, two younger brothers, and two sisters. My older brother’s name was Bongjo, and my sisters’ names were Okju and Oki, but I can’t remember the names of my younger brothers. My family was very poor. My father was a laborer, but he didn’t earn enough money. He drank a lot, so my mother had a very hard time. My mother did everything she could to make money; she cleaned bean sprouts in the market, sewed and sold vegetables in the street. She worked hard. One time we didn’t have anything to eat, so she brought us bean sprout roots that were thrown away at the market.
The kidnapping I was kidnapped while running errands in the late afternoon. Two men — they were big — in their 40s grabbed my wrists and held me from behind. I protested but they covered my mouth. They said, “be quiet and let’s go.” I was dragged away. Ulsan was a rural town, so there was no one around. They took me to Ulsan Station on a truck. There were several other kidnapped girls at the station. Five girls, including me, were made to get on the train. There were civilians and soldiers. We were put into a freight compartment, so we couldn’t see or do anything. There were 15 girls on the train. One girl I spoke with was 14 and another was the same age as me — 15. We talked about killing ourselves by jumping off the train, but we couldn’t go through with it. After a two-day journey we arrived at Tumen, China. I still had the pigtails and traditional Korean clothes I wore when I was kidnapped. It was July 14, 1942 — less than one year after I was sold to the inn. It was dark when we arrived at Tumen Station. I don’t know how many of us got off. Five, including me, were locked up near the station, where we spent the night. I was the only one locked up
When I was 15 my mother surprised me with a question. “There is a noodle restaurant in Busan, and the owners want to adopt a daughter. Do you want to go there?” I asked if they would let me go to school, and she said they would make me study and give me a lot of food. I said yes and was adopted. But when I arrived, they made me do all the chores and wait tables in their restaurant. I told my foster parents that I had to earn money to study, but they didn’t listen. I ran away twice, but was caught both times and beaten. They sold me to an inn in Ulsan after a few months. I couldn’t even visit my family and had to work until midnight.
alone — I still don’t know why they separated me from the rest. The Korean men who took us there didn’t sleep in the same place with us, and I didn’t know where they spent the night. They didn’t give us any food. Daily life We got on a train the next morning and arrived at an airfield in Yanji, Jilin province. There was a Japanese air squadron based there. I can’t remember the name of it. They took us to a building. It was a tile roof house with mud walls that used to be a military quarters. The soldiers moved out so we could move in. Ten of us lived there, but it was too small; we were two or three to a room. Not long after that, they built a new brick house and gave each of us a room. The managers of the comfort station were a Japanese couple — civilians. They told us to call them Obasan (aunt) and Okasan (mother). There was a Japanese woman among us. She voluntarily came from Japan to earn money. We called her Nesan (older sister). The managers weren’t harsh on her and she had more freedom than us. They changed my name to Domiko in Japanese. The other women were kidnapped from various
parts of Korea and their names were changed to Japanese. In the beginning, we did chores like cleaning the yard and picking weeds. We weren’t given any decent clothes. We wore what the soldiers gave us and if we needed anything else we had to get it on our own. There was a girl from Jeolla Province in Korea who said she had been sold to the comfort station. Her behavior was bad. She stole things and sold us clothes for money, such as socks and underwear. They were expensive. Because I didn’t bring anything with me from Korea, I had to buy clothes from her. I fell into debt, so it became even harder for me. The food was horrible. They gave us steamed kaoliang, cooked millet, kimchi, radish leaves and cabbage. We also ate the same plants as pigs. We steamed and ate them with soybean paste. There was no getting used to the food. The food was distributed according to class. Japanese were the first class, Koreans second and Chinese third. We were always hungry. I can’t even talk about the horrors I went through at that place. I witnessed many girls die of hunger or illness.
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
For most of us, there was no escape. I did try, but it was difficult because we couldn’t get out of the house. The managers watched us day and night. Even though there were no guards at the gate, there were soldiers everywhere.
The rape One day, soldiers came in and raped us like animals in front of other soldiers. They took turns raping us in the rooms. I just wanted to die at that time. At first they didn’t use condoms and we didn’t get health checkups. They came regularly. We began to have checkups not long after. Doctors came from the military hospital once a week. Soldiers were required to use condoms, but some didn’t. If I asked them to use one, sometimes a quarrel broke out and I was beaten. They never talked about their military unit. They were from a squadron, so they carried out sorties. We couldn’t go near the airfield and I didn’t know how many planes were there. I couldn’t go anywhere near the planes. I just saw them taking off and landing. My first time on — or even near — a plane was when I came back to Korea. At my second station, the system worked like this: Soldiers bought tickets from the manager and we had to collect them to prove that we served. Sometimes the women received money from the soldiers and took it to the manager to exchange it for tickets. I served from 10 to 40 soldiers a day — more than when I was at the airfield. There were not a lot of soldiers on weekdays. Sometimes there were only one or two. When there were no soldiers, we sat outside and talked. There were a lot of them on Sundays. They finished quickly, so they didn’t have to wait in long lines. The price was the same for the rank-and-file and the officers. Sometimes the officers slept over, but they didn’t have to pay extra for this. Rich officers gave us some extra money. No escape For most of us, there was no escape. I did try, but it was difficult because we couldn’t get out of the house. The managers watched us day and night. Even though there were no guards at the gate, there were soldiers everywhere. Sometimes we couldn’t bear it. A young 14-yearold girl came to my second comfort station in 1942 or 1943. She ran away but was caught and made to serve only the old commander. She was also
Korean, but I can’t remember her name. She escaped a second time and they couldn’t catch her. The whole unit looked for her. After she ran away, everything was restricted for us and the monitoring became stricter. No one could even think about running away after that. Besides the Japanese soldiers, there were Korean and Chinese men working at the airfield as laborers — hundreds of them. I got to know one Korean man. We accidentally got to know and like each other. The laborers couldn’t come to our place, but his friends helped him to meet me secretly. On the move I was moved to Yanji in the spring of 1943 — after less than a year at the airfield’s comfort station. There were not a lot of houses in Yanji. There was a Japanese police station and a new school. There was a Japanese military base near the train station and many others nearby. The comfort station was far from the nearest base. I didn’t know if ours was the only comfort station. There were 19 women there. We simply called it “comfort station,” and the soldiers called us “comfort women.” The entrance of the comfort station had a big gate. Inside, there were many wooden name plates on the wall with the names of the comfort women. There were no numbers or names on the doors. If a girl had a venereal disease, the manager simply turned over her name plate. Our rooms lined both sides of a main corridor. The rooms had Korean-style heated floors. The soldiers took their shoes off in the corridor before entering the rooms. Health Once I got syphilis, I couldn’t serve soldiers, so I went to the military hospital. I was injected with No. 606, but I didn’t get better. The doctor gave the manager mercury for my treatment. He boiled it and made me steam myself; he made me take off my underwear and steam my vagina with the vapor. The syphilis was cured after a while, but I became barren because of the treatment. I still hold a grudge against them for this. I couldn’t bear children because of the Japanese. No protest will ever change that.
If I didn’t obey the managers or the soldiers, or if I rejected them, I was severely beaten. The managers didn’t hit us — they brought the military police to beat us. We couldn’t do anything about it; they beat us everywhere with leather belts. I was out of favor with the managers, so I was beaten a lot. Once the manager made me run some errands at a store next to the comfort station. I came across a Japanese police officer of Korean origin. “Where are you from?” he asked. “I’m from that house,” I said in reference to the comfort station. “Where is your hometown?” he asked again. I said, “Osu-jung, Busan-bu, Gyeongnam.” He started to beat me terribly. I still clearly remember my hometown address because I was beaten so much for saying it. He hit my ear very hard — so hard that I still can’t hear from it. They only treated us for venereal diseases and nothing else. I started menstruating when I was in China. I was 16, and I didn’t know what it was at first. I was very scared. I thought I got sick because I served too many soldiers. My friends in the house told me I was having my first period. I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t get any cloth for my period. My friends lent me theirs. I went through so much trouble every month when I had my period. The rules stated that we couldn’t serve soldiers when we were menstruating, but the manager didn’t let us take a break. She stuffed us with cotton and made us serve soldiers. The doctor who came in once a week didn’t let us take a break, either. Our comfort station was moved near Yanbian hospital because the old house was too small for all the girls and soldiers. I arrived in China in July 1942 and the war ended in August 1945. I was a comfort woman for three years. This account was edited for length and clarity with permission from War and Women’s Human Rights Museum. Read the original at www.hermuseum.go.kr. — Ed.
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INSIGHT
No matter how often you bank, you still need ID By Michelle Farnsworth / Illustration by Adela Ordoñez
About this column: “Dear Michelle: Banking Advice for Expats” is a monthly column written by Michelle Farnsworth. Michelle is the foreign client relationship manager in the Shinhan Bank Foreign Customer Department. Please visit “Shinhan Expat Banking” on Facebook for more information. The banking information provided in this column is based on Shinhan Bank policies and may not be applicable to all banks in Korea. — Ed.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Why do I have to show my ID every time I visit the bank? The “Real Name Transaction Law,” or simply the “Real Name Law” as it is sometimes called, is responsible for many banking policies and procedures in Korea. Once you understand the ubiquity of this law, you will be able to better understand the complexities of Korea’s confusing banking regulations. The Real Name Law requires that tellers verify the identity of every customer every time they want to complete almost every type of transaction. So, your teller will need to photocopy your ID every single time you visit the bank branch. If you visit twice in one day, your teller will photocopy your ID each time. The photocopies are not kept at the branch, but are sent to the bank’s head office each evening. The paper trail is necessary for auditing purposes to ensure compliance with the Real Name Law.
In the eyes of the bank, if you only have a passport, you are considered a tourist. If you have a passport and ARC, you are considered a resident. As a resident, the number of banking products and services that are available to you greatly increases. The reason it is necessary to do many transactions in person at the bank (that you might think could be done by phone or online) is because the teller needs to verify your identity by checking and making a copy of your ID. It is for this very reason that it is recommended that you make arrangements and back-up arrangements to get your money out of Korea — or just take it all with you when you decide to leave the country for good. For foreign customers, two types of ID are acceptable under the Real Name Law. If you open an account with just your passport, you must bring your passport to the bank to use as your ID for every transaction until you receive your Alien Registration Card from Immigration. Then you should visit the bank with your passport and ARC so that a teller can add your ARC number to your account. After that, you should always bring your ARC with you to make any type of transaction. Note that you will still need to always bring your passport every time you make a foreign exchange transaction such as an overseas remittance or a foreign currency exchange. In the eyes of the bank, if you only have a passport, you are considered a tourist. If you have a passport and ARC, you are considered a resident. As a resident, the number of banking products and services that are available to you greatly increases.
With just a passport, you can: -
Open an account Open an installment account Open a time deposit Invest in funds Make domestic transfers Remit money overseas Clear a check Exchange foreign currency
But with your passport and ARC, you can do all of the above, plus: -
Receive a domestic or international check card Register for online banking Apply for a credit card Apply for a loan
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INSIGHT
Repatriate me
Dealing with distracted and dangerous American drivers By John M. Rodgers / Illustration by Jason S. Burnett
For the almost 10 years that I lived in Seoul, I never drove a car. I made the decision not to drive on the first day there as I sat in the back of a Korean-made sedan feeling nauseous while the driver, a short, bald man in a black leather jacket, raced down a three-lane expressway, weaving in and out of traffic — sans turn signals — as if the delivery of me to my new dwelling effaced all else. The harrowing ride managed to clear my mind of all the other worries that had grown like vines inside my head during the weeks, days and hours before my plane touched down on the Korean Peninsula in the middle of January. “I might not even make it through this ride,” I told myself as I sat, legs tightened, both hands clutching my full backpack, eyes locked on the road ahead. Needless to say, I arrived in one piece — my driver whisked my duffel bags from the trunk, placed them inside my small apartment, quickly bowed at the front door and disappeared, his mission completed. Walking the frigid streets and boulevards of the city during my first week, I quickly realized that any place where some 10 million people live is not fit for driving regardless of the set-up: masses of vehicles were piled up at nearly every intersection, buses blasted their horns as they dangerously darted between stops.
Though this preoccupation with oneself, this solipsism, stands out on the road — people are in their car, in their world and you aren’t. You don’t matter. Meanwhile, a sprawling subway system surged below — and sometimes above — Seoul’s frantic streets, offering an easy, efficient and economic alternative. “Who needs a car?” I thought thousands of times while riding this modern engineering wonder which makes any subway system in America seem antiquated (and embarrassing). In addition, the bus system gets one almost anywhere to and beyond where the subway goes, although the ride can be frightening with daring drivers negotiating tight turns to some stops, slamming on their brakes and then shooting back out onto the road.
About this column: John M. Rodgers is a founding editor of The Three Wise Monkeys webzine and currently acts as Groove Korea’s editor-at-large. John is back in the United States after a long stint in Korea and will be writing about readjustment.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
BUMPER CASE B u i l t to u g h , l i g ht a s a feat h er Now back in the U.S. I’ve started driving again, mostly due to necessity and only when I absolutely have to. But I hadn’t been behind the wheel in a major city until the other day when I had to drive three hours south through Boston (pop. 627,087), whose drivers are notorious for cutthroat, rude and outlandish driving. Driving through the city on Interstate 93 spares the driver any stop lights, tight alleys and parking pitfalls, but it does carry the driver and car up into a tangle of stacked throughways that mingle with on- and off-ramps, before descending into a tunnel where exits appear out of nowhere along with random potholes that punish vehicles — all of this requires attention, focus and cognizance among all the vehicles. What did I see? Distracted people: people talking away on cell phones, one hand on the wheel, away in their world; people texting, glancing up and down; one woman doing her makeup and one man watching TV on a “pad” of some sort. At one point a car sped past me and then, as I came up on it a few minutes later and passed it, I saw the female driver and passenger both texting, neither with their eyes on the road. Not surprisingly, as I headed away from Boston, traffic slowed to a crawl on a stretch where the speed limit is 65 mph. Twenty minutes later I passed a car on a flatbed truck with its front end crushed and a minivan with its rear end punched in. Throughout the drive, I kept my hands tight on the wheel at 10 and 2 o’clock, ready to respond to actions of a distracted driver. On the return trip it was more of the same. How can someone watch a movie or show and drive along at 70 mph? Going back through Boston I came up out of the tunnel and the road suddenly split — I needed to get right and put on my signal. The driver in my rearview kept up his speed, showing no sign of yielding though the median was fast approaching. It was a simple case of letting the driver ahead make a lane change. A few more seconds passed. He seemed oblivious so I floored it and swerved into the lane ahead of him with about three car lengths to spare. His reaction? He gave me the middle finger while yelling inside his car. I erupted. This man was angry? Did he have no sense? And so there I was driving down the freeway ranting and raving, flying into road rage. Ten seconds later, still yelling, adrenaline running through my veins, I asked myself, “What are you doing?” It was the first time I’d flown off the handle in many years — my Buddhist mindfulness rendered useless by some random scoundrel in an automobile. Why did I expect etiquette, consideration, some common decency? No, no, go ahead, I see the concrete barrier you’re heading for and I only have to slow down for a second. But there is not much of that on the roads so far and I’m not quite sure it’s only the roads. Though this preoccupation with oneself, this solipsism, stands out on the road — people are in their car, in their world and you aren’t part of it. You don’t matter. Sometimes I’d see this on Seoul’s subways when middle-aged women would stand directly in the middle of the doorway marker on the platform so when the subway arrived they would be right in the way of all the people getting off. Yet they didn’t care if it made sense or if it was considerate. They just stood there. Nonetheless, the automobile epitomizes American independence, that freedom to go where one wants, to step into one’s own world behind an engine that will take you where you want to go. You don’t have to wait for the bus or the train or the taxi — you go when you want. You don’t have to stand next to sweaty, stressed masses on the 6 o’clock subway. And now all the technology we have taps into the modern car with Bluetooth, iPod docks and navigation systems (to name a few). Your car is more you than ever before. But who wants to be driven mad, into a state of utter abandon, sense and consideration thrown out the car’s window? This is what I thought as I left Boston and headed for the quieter roads of New Hampshire where cooler heads and commoner sense — at least so far — seem to prevail. There I parked the Ford Explorer I’d been driving in the garage and wished I still had the Seoul subway a 10-minute walk from my home.
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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These eight mountains are ripe for pretty pictures — especially in November Photo courtesy the Korea Tourism Organization
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Duryunsan
Naejangsan
Mudeungsan
Hallasan
Provincial Park
National Park
Provincial Park
National Park
If you’re looking for a last whiff of autumn, go no further than Duryunsan Provincial Park. Located at the southernmost part of the peninsula, the 700-meter-high Mt. Duryunsan is famous for its temperate climate and Buddhist temples. Best time to go: Peak foliage (when 80 percent or more of a given area’s foliage has changed colors) is expected to occur on Nov. 11, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
Lots of people say this is the most The 1,200-meter-high Mt. Mudeubeautiful mountain to appreciate Ko- ngsan has gradual slopes, making it rea’s autumn. Photographers will fall walkable for most hikers. The mounin love with the waterfalls and tem- tain’s three peaks are known as the ples. “Jeongsang Three.” There are several historically important temples in the Best time to go: Peak foliage is ex- vicinity, too. pected to occur on Nov. 6. Best time to go: Peak foliage is exDirections: From the Jeongeup Bus pected to occur on Nov. 2. Terminal, take Bus No. 171 to Naejangsan National Park. Directions: To get there from Gwangju Bus Terminal (U-Square Terminal), take Bus No. 9 and get off at the entrance of Jeungsimsa Temple.
This Jeju landmark is relatively easy to hike. That and its unique ecosystem make it one of Korea’s most famous mountains — if not its most recognizable. Hallasan National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Best time to go: Peak foliage is expected to occur on Nov. 1. Directions: To get there from Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal, take bus No. 1100 and get off at the entrance of Eorimok Trail.
Directions: To get there from Haenam Intercity Bus Terminal, take a bus heading toward Daedunsa and get off at Daedunsa Temple.
Daegu’s
Songnisan
Bukhansan
2 mountains
National Park
National Park
There isn’t a better time of year to visit Daegu. The colorful foliage at Gayasan National Park and Palgongsan Provincial Park can be seen in all its glory in the first week of November.
Make the slow train (the Mugunghwa) part of the experience to Cheongju (about three hours) before transferring to a local bus to complete the journey.
Directions to Gayasan National Park: Transfer to a bus at Bukbu Bus Stop, where you will take a bus to Seongju and get off at Baekundong’s parking lot.
Best time to go: The Korea Meteorological Administration says peak foliage is expected to occur on Oct. 27, but this park will be beautiful well into November.
Meaning “big mountain in the north,” Bukhansan’s proximity to Seoul’s public transit makes it an extremely popular place to be on weekends. Be warned, hiking Bukhansan isn’t exactly an original idea — especially in the autumn. Try to get there on a weekday to avoid the crowds.
Directions to Palgongsan Provincial Park: Transfer to a bus at Hayang Bus Terminal and get off at Gatbawi Park.
Directions: From Cheongju Intercity Bus Terminal, transfer to an intercity bus to Mt. Songnisan.
Best time to go: Peak foliage is expected to occur on Oct. 26, but it usually holds onto its colors through mid-November. Directions: From Gireum Station (Subway Line 4), Exit 3, take Bus Nos. 110B or 143, and get off at the last stop.
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Slowing Down in
Samjinae South Jeolla town embraces the Slow Movement Story and Photos by Belle Nachmann
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Damyang, South Jeolla Province The first thing I see at the entrance to Samjinae Village is a huge oak tree. Through the shaded gates and amid the stone-walled lanes, the only things to be heard are our footsteps and the buzzing of bees. There are flowers everywhere — growing on rambling vines atop gateways and archways, peeping out at the bases of the walls and even towering above us in an overgrown courtyard, almost a Korean “Secret Garden.” After living in Seoul awhile, tranquil is not a word one can use very often. I adore our city, but the grind of the subway, screeching sound systems outside shops and the dank stench of trash on the streets gets to all of us. With that in mind, I booked a weekend away in Samjinae, an official “Slow City” in the Damyang region in South Jeolla Province, approximately 20 kilometers from Gwangju. Before long we find Hanok Esso, our minbak, and it’s just as beautiful: a traditional Korean house overlooking a walled, sun-dappled garden. The owner kindly lets us check in early and offers us as many persimmons as we would like, motioning to the fruit-laden trees around us. After a short stroll, enjoying the views of traditional hanok, community plots, orchids and the vast expanse of rice fields backdropped by mountains we eat a long lunch at a charming local restaurant, where we are the only patrons. The feast arrives and we are surrounded with duck bulgogi, delicious local sides and the smell of fresh air permitted by the open floor-to-ceiling window looking directly upon the rambling garden outside. Samjinae is quaint and quiet. There’s no Lotteria, 24-hour convenience store or E-mart, and you wouldn’t want to have to rely upon the local bus getting you anywhere quickly. That’s the point of a Slow City. In 2007, Samjinae was named the first Slow City in Asia by Cittaslow International, an Italy-based organization inspired by the cultural trend, the “Slow Movement.” Cittaslow’s goals include improving the quality of life by slowing down the overall pace, especially in a city’s use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them. Cittaslow also encourages nations around the world to preserve the cultural legacies of small towns and promote slower lifestyles, discouraging technology in favor of tradition. There are currently 147 Slow Cities across the globe, 12 of which (including Samjinae) are in Korea.
Samjinae is quaint and quiet. There’s no Lotteria, 24-hour convenience store or E-mart, and you wouldn’t want to have to rely upon the local bus getting you anywhere quickly. That’s the point of a Slow City. Apart from relaxing and enjoying the surroundings, fittingly, there’s not that much to do in Samjinae Village. The Damyang region, however, has plenty to offer if that’s more your style, and can be easily explored by bicycle. Famous for its bamboo, there are many related activities: the graceful Korea Bamboo Forest, Bamboo Museum and many bamboo markets to explore. There is the pretty Soswaewon Gardens, and the picturesque Metasequoia Road — used in many Korean films and television dramas — or you could even spend a day learning about traditional values and practices in the local Confucian School. We chose to skip all that. After two tranquil, silent days of walking, napping and eating, we were rejuvenated. Although heading back to the “real” world was the last thing we wanted to do, the much-needed break helped the idea. The next few days were accompanied by thoughts of the previous weekend, and by the end of the week I had recovered from my annoyance with Seoul, and fell in love with it, and Korea, all over again.
Getting there There are express buses to Damyang from Seoul Central City Bus Terminal (approx. every 4 hours). A taxi from Damyang to Samjinae is 11,000 won. The KTX from Seoul at Yongsan Station runs frequently, and from Gwangju Station the local 303 runs past Samjinae. Get off at the Changpyeong Police Station stop. For Hanok Esso (한옥에서), call 061-382-3832 to make reservations.
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A tale of
two temples Songgwangsa and Seonamsa share a mountain, but they’re worlds apart Story and Photos by David Smeaton
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Road Tripping is a column that presents travelers with great day and overnight trips around Korea. To suggest locations or to make a pitch, email joshforeman@groovekorea.com. — Ed.
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Songgwangsa, South Jeolla Province I always enjoy the loud, old-style Korean music blaring from speakers, the smell of unidentifiable open-grilled fish and the endless piles of junk for sale at the massive rest stations along highways. After many stops, some bibimbap for lunch and a few hundred miles, we arrive at our destination. The weather is great and the sky is clear blue when we check into a pension. High on the itinerary is to visit one of Korea's most important temples, Songgwangsa. Located on the side of Jogye Mountain, the most significant of the “Three Jewels of Korean Buddhism” is one of Korea’s oldest and most respected temples, as well as one of the oldest Korean Zen Buddhist temples. Zen Master Jinul established Songgwangsa in 1190. The temple now includes an International Zen Center, which is popular with foreign visitors and Buddhists from abroad. We arrive to find the temple dotted with lanterns as part of Buddhist celebrations. Located only 18 kilometers from the southern tip of Korea, it's a huge complex that is very well maintained. Songgwangsa has a number of important relics worth seeing. The main one, Bisari Gusi, is a massive rice container said to be able to hold enough rice to feed 4,000 monks. I take a moment to pay my respects to the Buddha. Most of the other people at the temple were bused-in tourist groups, probably from Seoul. It’s a case study in contrasts. Monks, tourists, centuries-old buildings separated by newer ones. The massive, modern temple buildings appear out of place in a location that has been a sacred Buddhist site for over 800 years. The beauty of the old temples is still undeniably evident and, as we wander around, my wife and I ponder the merits of modernization over tradition. Do they have to be exclusive? One of the tenets of Buddhism is about accepting impermanence — change is inevitable and it’s futile to fight it. I realized that the modernization of Korean Buddhism is inevitable. I decide it is better to enjoy the present and appreciate the temples for what they are.
Seonamsa On the other side of Jogye Mountain is Seonamsa. It’s much smaller and is connected to Songgwangsa by a trail through the mountain. While the path is some 6 kilometers long, we decide to forgo it in favor of our car. A 6-kilometer hike over a mountain with a stroller? No, thanks. We make a vow to return to make the trek on foot some day. On the way out of Songgwangsa we stop at one of the temple-style restaurants. Most Korean Buddhist temples are located on mountainsides, and Koreans are drawn to the mountains for hiking and relaxing. At the bottom of the mountain, just past the temple gates, is a small village and a clutch of restaurants offering a variety of food. We enjoy bibimbap for lunch, which is served vegetarian-style near the temples. Back in the car, we take the windy mountain road to Seonamsa. Seonamsa is not famous at all — and that’s its charm. It’s a sprawling, ancient temple complex filled with buildings that haven’t been touched in many decades. Walking paths lined with bright lanterns crisscross the grounds. It’s much quieter than Songgwangsa. A female monk sorts through donations nearby. We head past the main temple and down the paths toward the smaller temples at the back. Large grassy areas and flowering bushes create a striking serenity. I come across an ancient tree, its branches held up by metal crutches, and small rock walls covered in moss. There are so many small temple buildings filled with Buddha statues and relics to explore. We are alone and have the whole place to ourselves. We find the walking path leading out to Maaebuli, the 17-meter-high sculpture engraved on a rock, but again the stroller defeats us. On our way out of the temple, we take a breath of fresh air at a beautiful arched stonework bridge that crosses a small stream. How peaceful the monks must feel in this place.
Seonamsa is not famous at all — and that’s its charm. It’s a sprawling, ancient temple complex filled with buildings that haven’t been touched in many decades. Walking paths lined with bright lanterns crisscross the grounds. A female monk sorts through donations. Large grassy areas and flowering bushes create a striking serenity. How peaceful the monks must feel in this place.
Directions From Gwangju Bus Terminal Complex, take a bus to Songgwangsa Temple (1 hour and 30 minutes). From Suncheon Station, take City Express Bus (Jwaseok Bus) No. 111 (1 hour and 20 minutes). Address for navigation systym: Jeollanam-do Suncheon-si Songgwang-myeon Sinpyeong-ri 12.
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Tracking the elusive
Safari through Yala National Park, Sri Lanka Story and Photos by Travis Allen
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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Yala National Park, Sri Lanka The afternoon is sweltering, but tension in the winding, bumpy dirt roads toward a tree-shaded Jeep is higher than the temperature outside. With area. There we saw the tree house, actually a the light slowly fading on the horizon, all eyes are small cabin mounted in a tree, with a narrow, windfixed on the canopy. We’re hoping for a glimpse of ing staircase ascending to the top. We watched camouflaged spots, a sign of the elusive, deadly the sun set over the forest, feasted on tuna steaks, leopard stalking through the jungle for its prey. chicken and grilled vegetables and washed it down With over 20 national parks throughout Sri Lan- with Lion lagers. Endless stars and travel stories were our companions for the evening. ka, the country has many wildlife safaris to choose Drunk and exhausted, with a 5 a.m. wakeup from. Researching our trip, my girlfriend and I discovered Yala National Park, a 1,000-square-kilo- looming, it was time to turn in. After a hazardous climb up the rickety steps, I stretched out under meter park along the country’s remote southeast coast. It’s the largest national park in Sri Lanka, the mosquito net and prepared for a deep, fulfilland boasts the highest concentration of native ing sleep. Suddenly, the howls of a pack of jackals leopards in the world. I have always had an affinity pierced the night. So much for fulfilling sleep. Affor big cats. I tried – and failed – to find a wild tiger ter about an hour of this, I finally began drifting in Nepal a few years ago; seeing a leopard in Sri off when I had a sudden disconcerting thought: Lanka was something I needed to do. I was sold. “Leopards live in trees.” On the road from Colombo to the arid heat of the southeast, I asked people about my prospects. Will I see a leopard up close? I got a variety of responses ranging from laughter to bemused smirks, polite head shakes and “I’m sorry, my friend.” By the time we reached Tissamaharama, the gateway town to the park itself, my confidence was depressingly low. Searching for the right safari is an adventure in itself. It initially appeared as though the only requirement for being a “qualified tour operator” was a driver’s license and a rickety vehicle. After rejecting a multitude of shady offers, we finally found “the one.” I appreciated the owner’s honesty from the start. He didn’t make any promises, but enAfter several fitful hours, morning arrived. I was sured that if we kept an open mind we would have relieved to hear the greetings of our driver at the a great time. As a travel photographer, I understand how fick- base of the tree rather than the growls of a hungry leopard. le wildlife photography can be, and I didn’t want After three cups of strong Ceylon tea, I was to miss a shot because I was unable to get into sufficiently caffeinated to get underway. At the enposition. So, we opted to shell out a bit more for a private Jeep. Our safari options were then laid trance to the park we hired a guide, picked up our out for us. We were told the average tourist opts permits and proceeded through the gates. Our tour for either the morning or afternoon safari. Never guide and driver had a great rapport. Perhaps Lady being one to draw the line at conventional tourism, Luck would be on our side this day. we instead opted for the overnight, full-day safari, Entering the park felt like leaving the Earth including a one-night stint in the mysterious tree behind. We were in the “Land of the Lost.” Wild house. boars roamed the arid landscape in the soft glow We walked outside to meet our guide, Nalaka. of the morning light. Male peacocks flashed their There we got our first look at the green behemoth tail feathers for incoming females, blazing with the that would provide our transportation. Cruising kaleidoscopic shades of the rainbow. Countless around town in this monster, I felt like Samuel colorful birds took to the sky, singing their songs. L. Jackson from “Pulp Fiction” – one bad moth- At the watering holes, shallow in the dry season, crocodiles coexisted with painted storks. They erfucker. Out of town, we drove for miles along
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
were sharing their fishing grounds. Shortly into the morning we received a call on the radio saying that another group had spotted a leopard. Our Jeep rushed to the site and we caught our first glimpse of a female up in a tree, napping along with the remains of a deer that she had evidently caught in the night. This first look was remarkable, but she was a few hundred yards off and hard to see. I felt unfulfilled but kept it to myself. At lunch there was little to do but rest in the shade. The midday sun was too hot for tourists and animals alike. The only things venturing into it were monkeys looking for leftovers. After lunch we got a call on the radio. A family of wild elephants was taking a bath in a nearby watering hole. A spectacular sight, yes, but not leopards. As I eyed the lengthening shadows on the ground, I began to doubt we would see a leopard up close. After driving around for another hour, the thought was virtually cemented. But then, just as I lost hope, we saw them. A set of tracks undeniably belonging to a lone, alpha-male leopard. At this point it becomes clear why paying for experienced drivers and guides is a wise decision. While the other Jeeps in the area make a left turn toward the watering hole, assuming this would be the leopard’s final destination, our driver and guide briefly yell back and forth and make a split-second decision to go in the opposite direction. As the Jeep inches forward, we peer into the forest. Then we see him, his spots emerge from the brush as silently as a ghost. Euphoria consumes me as he suddenly alters his route, turning directly toward our Jeep. Paralyzed, my heart pounding out of my chest as he inches closer, I somehow raise my camera to my eye and take a few photographs of the creature as, from a few feet away, he looks into my eyes. There is something humbling about staring into the eyes of a creature that possesses such raw power. I am speechless as the leopard continues along the path, where we follow him for a hundred feet further. Finally, the leopard decides he has had enough, turns to cross the path and finally disappears into the trees. After he is gone, we park the Jeep. After a round of high-fives, we all seem to understand that what we had just witnessed was extremely rare – a privileged glimpse that most people will never get.
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Veganize me A vegan guide for newbies Story and Photos by Shelley Dewees
In some places it’s easy to be vegan. In California, you can walk into a greasy-spoon breakfast joint and find yourself enjoying this kind of interaction: “Yeah, I’ll have the tofu omelet with the almond cheese, a fruit cup with no grapes, and a café au lait with the unsweetened hemp milk, please. Oh! And a slice of the vegan wheat-fee-glutenfree organic fruit-juice-sweetened cake made with lemons. I’ll take one to go.” Upon arriving in Korea, there was no definitive evidence either way about what veganism would be like. Stories came from both sides; some peo-
ple saying that meat is often put on the side like an afterthought and others describing even vegetarianism as “simply impossible” and that I’d have to be “entirely self-reliant.” Meaning granola bars and apples. From my bag. Forever. All I really knew for sure is that it would be a challenge, a supposition that proved to be accurate. But the thing is, being vegan in Korea is all about flexibility. In fact, after a few months of practice, lots of errors and even more unexpected successes, this change has turned me into a better vegan. I had to become more adaptable, less rigid, and
Cooking vegan Korean
- Tons of vegetables - Brown or white rice The daily staples of a Korean vegan frequently - Tofu; wonderfully delicious in Korea due to the centuries of practice in making it include: - Soy milk; a million different yummy varieties are - An expat herbivore cooking at home should also look into curry paste, lentils (bought at one of available - Frozen fruit; for smoothies and general enjo- the foreign markets), beans, tortillas and noodles to make all manner of veggie wraps, burritos, yment
Ordering things from the internet and from generous friends overseas will not be the backbone of your diet, but rather, the fluff that makes life a little bit tastier. Living off of things shipped in boxes is out of the question when there is a veritable feast of delicious Korean bounty all around.
Fluffy frosting is easy with sugar, margarine, soy milk and vanilla.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
much less now-I-have-to-send-it-back in my severity about eating. Daily vegan eating patterns around here are remarkably similar to those in other places, tweaked and altered to fit your environs. Ordering things from the internet and from generous friends overseas will not be the backbone of your diet, but rather, the fluff that makes life a little bit tastier. Living off of things shipped in boxes is out of the question when there is a veritable feast of delicious Korean bounty all around you.
soups and pizzas with homemade tofu cheese. Eating at home is the keystone of any vegan’s diet, so keeping things interesting is imperative. And when Japanese eggplants only cost 400 won, who wouldn’t search for enlightenment in the kitchen?
Decadent Vegan Brownies
Ripe berries add sweetness They’re healthy too, so pile on as many as you like.
Dark chocolate Dark chocolate is vegan, but check the label to make sure it hasn’t been cut with milk.
Coconut oil Coconut oil is solid at room temperate, perfect for using as a substitute for butter in baked goods.
International edibles Dinners out are easier than you might think. Seoul has a fabulous array of restaurants serving food from around the world, from Arabian falafel to Bulgarian red bean salads and French baguette. In addition, a growing number of establishments are offering fantastic vegan fare straight out of their English/Korean menus — no special requests from the kitchen needed. Here are a few favorites: Cook and Book Café
Gecko’s
Botton
Fell + Cole
Animal-free sandwiches, salads, smoothies and milkshakes abound at Cook and Book Café in Hongdae. Get a dark chocolate brownie and an affogato for dessert, or have a go at the vegan cheesecake.
Gecko’s (locations in Itaewon and Bundang) has an exceptionally huge, exceptionally delicious veggie burger and a great assortment of homemade, meat-and-cream-free pastas. Don’t forget the beer.
Botton in Noksapyeong is a cozy haven for those craving soy lattes and a vegan cupcake or two. Pies, cookies and biscotti are also ripe for the choosing and pair nicely with their lovely coffees.
Itaewon Location: Itaewon Station, Exit 3. At the street level, turn around. Take the next left and you will see Gecko’s on the right.
Directions: Itaewon Station, Exit 1. Walk straight, past What the Book, until you’ve nearly reached the end of Itaewon-ro. Just beyond the North Face store, there is a road that veers to the right and up a steep hill. Go up the hill, passing Cup & Bowl and The Hillside Bar. Botton will be on the right.
Lingering summery dreams of ice cream can be made a reality at Fell + Cole in Hongdae. The inventive dairy-free flavors like Strawberry Wine Szechwan Pepper and Chococo Almond Butter are enchanting, even as the winter approaches.
Directions: Okay, this will sounds complicated but stick to these directions and you’ll make it. Sangsu Station, Exit 1. Walk straight up Wausan-ro to Hongik University. As you keep walking, you’ll pass one GS25 on the right. When you see another GS25 (again on the right), turn left down the narrow street. This is the third left beyond Hongik University. Walk about three blocks, turning right when you see Chocolate Cake on the right hand side. Cook and Book is located in a small alley on the left.
Bundang Location: From Jukjeon Station, take bus #40 or #24. The bus will curve around Shinsegae and E-mart, and then make a left turn down Jukjeon-ro. Get off at Home Plus Express (three stops down) and walk one block, passing Angel-In-Us on the right. Gecko’s is located on the ninth floor of the tall building ahead.
Directions: Sangsu Station, Exit 1. Walk straight up Wausan-ro for two minutes. Turn left at the 7-11 and walk 2 blocks down. Fell + Cole will be on the left under a bright yellow awning.
Loving Hut Buffet Starved? Waiting for your first paycheck? Head over to Achasan for the 100 percent vegan Loving Hut Buffet. The dizzying variety and economical price tag (12,000 won) help this location to stand out in the emerging crowd of posh all-you-can-eats. Eastern Seoul: Located directly outside Achasan Station, Exit 1, on the second floor.
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Dissecting the Vegan Burger
Burger buns Mustard Mustard is made from mustard seeds, vinegar and water, and shouldn’t contain non-vegan ingredients. It’s always best to check, though.
Burger buns can certainly be vegan, but it’s also common to make them with milk, butter, or other non-vegan ingredients. Unless you make the buns yourself, knowing for sure will be tough.
Ketchup The ketchup, too, should be vegan.
Potato Potato makes a great base for a vegan burger patty; it can be cut with peas and carrots and fried for a great taste and texture.
Feasting, Korean-style
In the unlikely event that none of these things are available, one can often make a meal out of Since you live in Korea now, Western food can the huge array of vegetarian side dishes that come only take you so far. The smells wafting out into the with someone else’s order. Rice, kimchi, daikon rastreet are enough to make you salivate and long for dishes, cucumbers, and a spoonful of broth from noodles, but what can you order? a friend’s bowl — and you’re in business. You can also learn to zoom in - Bibimbap (비빔밥), an excellent concoction of rice, on certain Hangeul phrases veggies and super-spicy gochujang, a red pepper like “vegetables” and “tofu” paste and “noodles” well enough - Kimchi jjigae (김치 찌개); kimchi boiled with to get something vegetarian veggies and ka-POW spices brought out — or something - Soondubu jjigae (순두부찌게); soft tofu soup mostly vegetarian. - Yoobu chobap (유부초밥); fried tofu squares You see, the truth about stuffed with rice meat in Korea is this: it is - Naeng myeon (냉면); buckwheat noodles in broth used, in small amounts, in with vinegar, mustard and ice cubes most things. There have been times when my bibimbap arrives with strips of beef laid across it, and even a couple times where I’ve almost finished my kimchi jjigae only to discover a small bit of pork on the bottom of the bowl. Was I eating broth made with meat? Probably. Was I chewing on meat? Unlikely, since that texture is unmistakable. Am I going to freak out? No.
Tomatoes The best part of a vegan burger is piling on fresh tomatoes, onions, lettuce and any other veggies you fancy.
You will not have a panic attack if your salsa has a giant scoop of crème fraîche on top; you’ll instead ask the waiter to bring you one without. You will not have a coronary if the beautiful and much-anticipated cucumber salad arrives with feta cheese all over it; you’ll eat it and like it. After all, you traveled for 45 minutes to get to this amazing restaurant and damn, those kalamata olives are just special. You will not stress, over-think and contemplate the loss of your vegan superpowers if you decide to try that incredible Korean invention, patbingsu (shaved ice with jellied fruits, rice marshmallows and sweet red beans with a dash of milk and a big scoop of ice cream). It’s totally un-vegan and totally worth experiencing. You’re in Korea. Veganism is a lifestyle, not a rigid doctrine from which there is no escape. Yes, we are emphatic, passionate vegetarians and will never waiver, but you know what? Just go with it.
About the author: Shelley DeWees is a teacher, runner and writer living in Seoul. She’s currently writing a book about running marathons on a vegan diet. — Ed.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Kitchen Shock:
Kabocha squash Kitchen shock is a new feature highlighting Korean ingredients By Lisa Pollack
Less intimidating when referred to as the Asian pumpkin, kabocha squash is your friend this fall. With roots in Japan, at some point the vegetable jumped the moat to Korea. Bearing resemblance to a pumpkin, it is smaller in size and flaunts a warty green skin reminiscent of the Wicked Witch. It’s easier to carry home than a giant jack o’lantern and has even been cited as an aphrodisiac.
Easily halved and seeded, it can be boiled, roasted, or quickly zapped in the microwave.
The flavor evokes butternut squash, but with sweeter notes. Known as “hobak” in Korean, it is commonly used to make a smooth porridge or a bbq side dish resembling potato salad. In your adventures at home, try substituting kabocha squash into any recipe calling for winter squash. Easily halved and seeded, it can be boiled, roasted, or quickly zapped in the microwave. Try it roasted with butter and cinnamon, puree it with broth, potatoes and garlic for a soup, or use it to make gnocchi.
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V e geta ri anize ME Veg-friendly restaurants that leave out the ‘blah’ and turn up the ‘ahhh’ Story and Photos by Shelley Dewees
Seoulites love their meat. Galbi, bulgogi, SPAM, chicken in a cup — they’re as common a sight around here as an ajumma in a floppy visor. The boss always wants to take you to that place around the corner with the pig portrait in the window. You’ve been blowing him off since he tried feeding you ox intestine that was “good for stamina.” With so much meat around, vegetarians in Seoul walk a culinary path paved with bibimbap and pickled radish, kimchi and bean sprouts, rice and more rice. And when your proficiency in Hangeul determines whether a visit to a Korean restaurant will result in catastrophe, it’s easy to start
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
feeling a little shipwrecked. Don’t despair. Our fair city is teeming with veggie-friendly eateries waiting for you to discover. You simply have to know where to look. Heading toward one of the ever-expanding buffet options like VIPS is usually a fine choice, and you can oftentimes find things there you haven’t had in a while like grapefruit salad with kale and chunky potato soup — and really cheap wine. You can also do the swap-out trick with ingredients, with varying results. Dos Tacos will make an excellent veggie burrito to your specifications, and OYori in Hongdae can vegetarianize anything on their menu (try the dwenjang ramen).
“There are spring rolls, noodles and rice dishes ready to be loved, along with fiery curries awash in sumptuous coconut milk and kickyour-teeth-in spicy sauces you can add or subtract to your liking.” But despite your fortitude, all that bargaining with a Korean chef can be daunting and buffets are, well,
a little low on the ambience factor (among other things). These five restaurants will steer you clear of those tiresome encounters, away from those humdrum boiled carrots, and from the carry-your-dinner-on-aplastic-tray thing. They turn up the heat on the average, employ the best of ingredients, and wrap the whole experience up in a better package than your typical veg-only place may offer. You and your omnivore friends will be happy at any one of them for a rapid lunchtime grab-n-go or a fancy party with cocktails, and you won’t even have to eat iceberg lettuce. Promise.
Buddha’s Belly
Buddha’s Belly in Itaewon is a great place for a date. The interior is swank and lavish, featuring squishy red chairs that will send your overworked mind on vacation. The food is a slice of Thai, with veggie and non-veggie options galore, and the English-speaking staff is able to help you negotiate with any needed substitutions (vegans should ask for no fish sauce). There are spring rolls, noodles and rice dishes ready to be loved, along with fiery curries awash in sumptuous coconut milk and kickyour-teeth-in spicy sauces you can add or subtract to your liking. The Thai Red Curry presents a myriad of vegetables including bamboo shoots, baby corn, scallions, zucchini and carrots, and is rounded out with a nice bowl of mouth-cooling rice. Add a couple of gin and tonics.
Directions: New location near Noksapyeong Station, just around the corner from Petra, close to Botton.
Santorini
With so much attention being paid to the meat platter and the lamb kebabs at Santorini, it’s easy for their delicious vegetarian-friendly dishes to drop under the radar. The Greek salad has a perfect combination of crunchy cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes and vinegary onions, topped with capers and oh-so-wonderful kalamata olives. The skordalia, hummus and eggplant spreads are all nice with pita bread, and the complimentary rustic wheat rolls are just begging for a dip into fruity olive oil. If you’re still hungry, order the spinach pies and enjoy the blue and white island atmosphere over a beer or three. Directions: Itaewon Station, Exit 1. Walk straight out of the exit and take an immediate right, past KFC. Go up the hill and take the next left. Santorini is located one block down on the left-hand side, on the second floor. Look for the blue and white circular sign.
Petra
At Petra in Noksapyeong, you can relish in vegetarian fare with an Arabian twist. Crunchy fried falafel, baba ghanoush and fattoush are scrumptious — even better when wrapped up in warm flatbread and smothered with super spicy pepper sauce. The em’nazala (eggplant with tomatoes), tabouli, hummus and olive salad are yummy, too, especially as you enjoy the view out the gigantic windows. Go on a warm day to linger and relax on the breezy terrace. Directions: Noksapyeong Station, Exit 1. When you arrive at street level, look up and to the left for a pedestrian overpass. Head up the stairs and over the road. When you reach the other side, turn right. You’ll see Petra on the left, near the top of the hill.
Kraze Burger
The ubiquitous franchise Kraze Burger may seem like the last place you could go, but in fact they have an excellent tofu burger with fried onions and several salads that won’t leave you wanting. Even better, you can easily customize any of their menu items by substituting the meat with a tofu patty, and even go totally vegan by subtracting mayo and cheese (the Darren Burger is notably delicious made vegan — ask for extra hot sauce). If you’re looking for a place to have lunch with friends or for a quick solo meal, head to any one of their locations to eat your fill for less than 10,000 won. Directions: Ubiquitous — www.kraze.co.kr
So True
So True is an undiscovered jewel in the Cheongdam neighborhood. Among the extensive menu of coffees, smoothies and desserts, there are delicious vegetable pastas, a huge grilled mushroom salad and a really special pesto panini on toasted brown bread. But the bona fide showstopper here is the Garden Pizza, piled high with kabocha squash and pumpkin, sunflower seeds, walnuts, mushrooms, garlic and herbs on a thin, crispy crust. This luscious chow will set you back 29,000 won, but it’s more than enough food for two people and, paired with another entrée, will leave you with ample leftovers for tomorrow. Finish up with a slice of citron cake and hot clementine tea, then chill out and soak up the zen. Directions: Cheongdam Station (Line 7, Exit 2). Once you step outside, follow the curving road to your immediate right. So True is on the right-hand side, a one-minute walk from the station.
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Making time for
tigers Mussel croquettes and béchamel
For some unknown reason, tigers have obsessed me lately. I see them everywhere, anywhere; they follow me like the economic crisis follows half of the world. Pardon this strange start, but allow me to explain. I have written before that it is impossible to cook the same way that our grannies used to. I think we all agree on that for a simple reason: We don’t value time or money as much as we once did. Some of the most delicious dishes from Spain, France, Korea and just about everywhere else on earth were created by resourceful people trying to make do with too little food and not enough money. But what those people did have was time. I want to stick up for good, cheap food this month because lately I’ve been feeling like a lack of time has put a dent in my diet – and in me, too, while we’re at it.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
At this point you probably think I’ve gone crazy, talking about tigers, the economy, bad feelings. Let me tie everything together. “Tigres” are one of the most famous tapas in Spain. The main ingredient in them is delicious and cheaper than just about anything else. The dish is mussel croquettes served in mussel shells. The name comes from the spicy version of it – it will make you roar like a tiger. Mussels are easy to find in Korea and, unless you have problems with the uric acid, it is one of the healthiest foods on the market. I am not going to lie to you. This recipe is going to take some of your time. But that’s the whole point. This recipe is dedicated to the country we all live in: Korea, the tiger of Asia.
“The dish is mussel croquettes served in mussel shells. The name comes from the spicy version of it – it will make you roar like a tiger.”
Mussel Croquettes • 1 kg mussels • 250 grams shrimp • 2 onions • 2 eggs • 1 red pepper • ½ glass white wine
Béchamel (makes 1/2 liter) • 1 tbsp tomato concentrate • Garlic • Chili pepper (optional) • Bread crumbs • Olive oil • Salt and pepper
For the béchamel: In a pan or cooking pot, heat the butter until it melts. Add in the flour and let it cook for one minute, stirring the mixture frequently. Don’t let the flour get too dark. Add the milk (it helps if the milk is heated, too) and stir until you have a creamy sauce. Add salt and a pinch of nutmeg. The texture should be lighter than peanut butter. If your béchamel isn’t creamy enough, put it into a food processor. Put the mixture aside. For the rest of the process: Clean the mussels with cold water. Boil a cup of water in a pot. Add the mussels. The steam from the boiling water will cook them. Wait for 3 minutes
• ½ liter milk • 2 tbsp flour • 2 tbsp butter
• Pinch of salt • Nutmeg
until they open and take them out. Remove the mussels from their shells and clean the shells. These will be the containers for your croquettes. Mince the shrimp and the mussels. Do the same with the onion, garlic and red pepper. In a pan, add olive oil and cook the veggies for 10 minutes, on low heat. We don’t want them crunchy. After 10 minutes, add the shrimp and mussels, the wine, half of the cooking water, the tomato and optional chili, and let them cook for 10 more minutes on medium heat. When the liquid is almost gone, add to the mixture the béchamel. Now it is time to fill the shells. After you’ve filled the shells, coat them in bread crumbs and deep-fry them. Serve them hot or warm.
About the author: Paloma Julian is Spanish to the core, although she hasn’t lived there in years. A woman of many talents, she enjoys bringing the nuances of Spanish food culture to Seoul’s English-speaking community.
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Taking advantage of
autumn shellfish With a steaming bowl of seafood chowder
We’re spoiled when it comes to seafood in this country. Things that would normally cost an arm and a leg back home are practically given away in Korea. Mussels have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and something I usually associate with special occasions. A steaming bowl of fresh mussels bathed in white wine, garlic and parsley is a classic that highlights the shellfish in all its glory. Late autumn pulls me toward soups and stews. Their comfort is always welcome on a crisp night. I wrote about mussels sometime last year, so I decided to come back to them, but focus on what to do when the seasons change. Chowder is often hard to come by in Korea, and can be a hit-or-miss experience. When I make seafood chowder at home, I aim for a rich, creamy base chock full of tender
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
chunks of seafood. Clam chowder is the standard, and you can easily substitute clams, but the mussels give the final dish a subtle richness (as if it needs more). It’s important to look for mussels with a fresh smell. If some of the mussels are open, give them a tap on a hard surface; if they don’t close up, toss ‘em. Some of them will have a beard (black fibrous threads protruding from the shell), but they are much easier to remove when they are steamed. Cook them until they open up. Any longer and you risk rubbery, overcooked mussels. I often forget the bounty that is available here in Seoul. This is the kind of dish that knocks some sense back into me.
Follow Read on Twitter — @SpicesandUrbs
Ingredients • 800 grams mussels in their shell • 2 strips bacon, chopped • 1 can beer • 1 large onion, diced • ¾ large Korean carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 2 medium potatoes, cubed • ½ cup corn • 2 cups stock
Seafood Chowder — Rinse and pick over the mussels. — Discard any that have broken shells or ones that won’t close. — Place in a large pot over medium-high heat and add half the beer. — When the mussels have opened (3-4 minutes), remove from the heat, drain (reserving the liquid) and place in the refrigerator. — When the mussels are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shell, cutting away any beards. — While the mussels are cooling down, sauté the bacon in the olive oil over low heat until crisp. — Remove the bacon and add the onions, carrot, celery and butter to the pan. — Sauté over medium heat until the onions are translucent (3-4 minutes).
• 1 cup milk • 1 tsp dried thyme • 2 tbsp butter • 1 tbsp olive oil • 1 tbsp butter
— Add the minced garlic and thyme; continue cooking for another minute. — Add the two tablespoons of flour, and stir to coat the vegetables. — Add the rest of the beer and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. — Put the potatoes, stock and reserved liquid in the pan and season with salt and pepper. — Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. — Add the mussels, corn and milk and let the chowder come back to a simmer. — Simmer until it is the desired thickness. — Add the bacon, check for seasoning, and serve with the crusty, warm bread.
About the author: Read Urban, a Virginia native, spent years cooking in the United States before coming to Korea. He enjoys experimenting with Korean ingredients, eating at innovative restaurants in Seoul and creating favorites from home.
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Music & Arts
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Remedy for
crustacean frustration Louisiana-style Cajun cookin’ Story by Ryan Noel / Photos by Josh Foreman
Everyone misses certain foods from back home when they’ve been away for a while. Me, I tend to miss the food from the places I visited while I was away from home. That's one reason I love Seoul. It has so many foods I miss from the places I've been. I've been wanting for the flavors of one special place that has provided me with so many of my favorite gastronomic experiences. Thinking back, I recall the ecstasy of the crawfish Étouffée at Commander's Palace and the crunchy, sweet meatiness of the fried soft-shell crabs out by the river near Jean Lafitte in Jefferson Parish. I fondly remember helping to heft an enormous burlap sack of writhing crawfish into a purging basin as I learned how to do a proper crawfish boil in the back of a friend’s house that looked out onto the bayou. I'm talking about the food of New Orleans, Louisiana. After regular exposure to such fare, not eating it for an extended period can result in a serious nervo-gastric condition called crustacean frustration. Luckily, The Boiling Crab has a remedy. Down 'bouts N’awlins they boil up all manner of goodness in giant pots and kettles. Before your eyes, any sort of crustacean might be bubbled into a spicy mix of deliciousness. It’s best to not even differentiate between sides and mains; it’s all cooked in the same pot and served together, dumped onto newspaper in the middle of the table.
At The Boiling Crab, they do about as well as it gets outside Louisiana. Truth be told, when we first walked up and saw the sign – “Louisiana Style Cajun” – we scoffed. How is anyone going to serve a proper crab boil (which takes hours to prepare) to the hurry-up diners of Seoul? It didn’t get much better when we saw a couple of girls wearing disposable gloves and lobster bibs trying not to muss their makeup at the next table. “Amateurs,” we thought. When paper was rolled out over our table we began to reconsider. Bibs were offered but we turned them down. We had come appropriately dressed, in clothes we didn’t mind dirtying. The Boiling Crab has a number of options for your boil including combos and individual items. The three combos (recommended) include Korean blue crab, shrimp and snow crab. Along with your main you will find mussels, clams, scallops, corn, potatoes and sausage. There’s also a decent selection of fried items, which is a must if you really want to taste the South. We opted for the shrimp combo and the fried soft-shell crabs, ordered our drinks and settled down for the wait. In the meantime, a bucket for shells and cobs was brought to the table along with my San Miguel. The wait for the boil wasn’t quick, but I wouldn’t call it slow. It told me things were being prepared fresh; seasoning wasn’t just being drizzled over the top of quick-made food.
Finally, our meal emerged: spicy boiled goodness, neatly contained in an oven-safe bag. They cut the bag open and dumped the normal mess out. We found cooking the seafood in a bag helped speed up the cooking process, and allowed flavors to mingle and penetrate more thoroughly in less time. From experience, we could tell that some things had been pre-boiled, like the potatoes. This was part of the time-saving solution they came up with to actually boil your meal while you wait. They were still good. The sausage was not andouille, but good quality. We could also tell that beer had not been used in the boil preparation, and asked, just to be certain. Both are nice to have, but not totally necessary. The important stuff – the seafood – was tender and full of flavor. You can choose the spiciness of your dish on a scale of one to three. We chose two, which was just right. Especially notable was the use of garlic. In a normal boil, whole cloves of garlic are tossed in, then eaten later. Here the garlic had been chopped – showing more care than we expected – and it was terrific. The savory warmth was delicious. Although not authentic, this is an improvement that made up for the other shortcomings. In all, it was thoroughly satisfying and enjoyably messy. Oh, and that soft-shell crab? It was exactly the hot, sweet, crunchy meatiness I had been longing for. Frustration ended, remedy enjoyed.
Down ‘bouts N’awlins they boil up all manner of goodness in giant pots and kettles. Before your eyes, any sort of crustacean might be bubbled into a spicy mix of deliciousness.
Directions The Boiling Crab is located in Itaewon, in the alleyway behind McDonald’s. Leave Itaewon Station, Exit 4, and find your way south to the alleyway, which runs parallel to the main street. Head west, toward Noksapyeong Station. It’s opposite Homebase. It’s closed on Tuesdays.
Online Find more information at: www.boilingcrabshrimp.com.
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
OUR
BEER
Connects us with our friends, family and craft – perfect for just about every occasion, they beg to be shared and celebrated.
Style: Wheat ale. Colour: Golden yellow. Key Ingredients: Three types of pale and wheat malts. Character: Light on the palate, yet packed with flavour and European hop aroma, with fruity or citrusy notes.
Style: Brown ale. Colour: Deep copper with garnet flashes. Key Ingredients: Three varieties of hops, and a blend of caramel, pale and black malts. Character: Fills your mouth with a fusion of toasty malt and sweet caramel up front finishing with a nutty flavour, medium creamy carbonation.
Style: Stout. Colour: Black with deep amber hue. Key Ingredients: Pale malt with healthy doses of caramel and black malts along with two hops. Character: Black malt aroma and flavour with notes of coffee and chocolate and ample hop.
Style: Light lime lager. Colour: Soft gold. Key Ingredients: Pure malted barley, hops, water and lime. Character: Light body with slight lime aroma and flavour.
Style: Brown ale. Colour: Warm reddish light brown. Key Ingredients: Blend of pale, caramel and black malts and a blend of three hop varieties. Character: Malty with a hint of toffee balanced with very evident hop and followed by a clean finish.
Style: Dark Lager. Colour: Amber with white, billowy head. Key Ingredients: Blend of pale and caramel malts, as well as honey from Three Hills, and two varieties of hops. Character: Sweet and honey/molasses flavour, slightly hopped with fuller mouth feel.
Style: India Pale Ale. Colour: Golden amber. Key Ingredients: British-style hops known as Fuggles. Seriously. Character: A classic ale dry hopped to lend a distinctive character. Spicy, warm, earthy.
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Rubber Seoul: A party with a cause Join Korea’s best indie bands at World AIDS Day fundraiser Story by Rajnesh Sharma / Photos by Belle Nachmann
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
For the first time ever, the highly anticipated Rubber Seoul charity concert will fall on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. Little Travellers Korea has been organizing Rubber Seoul since 2008 with the aim to promote awareness of HIV/AIDS, provide education on safe sex and raise money for the Hillcrest AIDS Center in South Africa. According to Jenny Maxwell, one of the organizers of Rubber Seoul, last year’s event was attended by approximately 750 supporters and raised 9.3 million won. “Rubber Seoul is a great night with fantastic music,” Maxwell said. “We’ve always stood out as we’ve always had a solid line-up of some of Korea’s best musicians.” This year is no different. Bands include Angry Bear, The Rub, Magna Fall, Love X Stereo, The Studs Lonigan Experience and Harry Big Button. It will go down at some of Hongdae’s hottest venues: Club FF, Club TA, Freebird, Gogos 2 and DGBD. The aim is to attract as many supporters as possible and raise over 8 million won. Little Travellers Korea is operated by a group of individuals who desire to help ease the burdens of HIV/AIDS in the highly infected African province of KwaZulu-Natal. Over 40 percent of the adults in the region have contracted the life-threatening disease. Little Travellers Korea is determined to aid those in need. This year the group has raised 1.4 million won through organized community events such as the Photo Scavenger Hunt. The most popular event, Rubber Seoul, is expected to be the biggest initiative of the year. “We like to joke 'Little Travellers brings people together,' but it really does,” Maxwell said. “You get to meet these fantastic, like-minded people, out to have a good time and help a great cause, and who come from all walks of life. And it’s just such an excellent opportunity to meet new people.” Maxwell met her boyfriend at a previous Rubber Seoul and the two are now its main organizers. Little Travellers Korea is seeking up to 100 volunteers. Working on a rotational basis, volunteers will get a chance to help out at the door and with sales and promotional duties. An all-night entry pass to the five venues costs 10,000 won. All participants will receive a gift of a beautifully beaded doll; also known as Little Travellers, the dolls were made at the Hillcrest AIDS Center by South African crafters. Today they symbolize the opportunity to raise money and awareness for those who are affected by HIV/AIDS. “I've been to all the Rubber Seoul events since 2008, and the thing I like most about them is the sense that everyone's there for this great cause and to support it,” said Maxwell. “You see everyone dancing and outside wearing their dolls and there's just such a brilliant sense of fun about the night.” All profits from Rubber Seoul will be donated to the Hillcrest AIDS Centre.
“You get to meet these fantastic, like-minded people, out to have a good time and help a great cause, and who come from all walks of life.” — Jenny Maxwell, Rubber
Seoul organizer
Info Visit “Little Travellers Korea” on Facebook or contact korea@littletravellers.net.
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Beach House will land in Korea in January. Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
International indie showcase Kuang Program, Sighborggg, Lymbyc Systym, Beach House, Japandroids, Grimes Story by Richard Loveridge / Photos courtesy of the bands
Grimes Dance-inducing, electro-pop artist Grimes is making her way to Rolling Hall March 23rd, where she will be performing with a full band. Grimes garnered widespread critical acclaim after the release of her 2012 album “Visions (4AD).” While making “Visions,” Grimes drew from several influences across an extremely broad spectrum of music including K-pop, medieval music, Beyonce and the Cocteau Twins. The final product is 13 infectious, futuristic pop songs that are refreshingly different from anything you’ve heard before.
There are plenty of great live shows to keep indie music fans busy this fall. Indie duos Kuang Program and Sighborggg are hitting the road together for November’s Bus King tour. They will make stops in Cheonan, Daegu, Busan and Seoul. Kuang Program Choi Tae-hyun and Kim Young-hoon are Kuang Program, a two-piece post-punk band from Seoul. Kuang Program’s live show features electronic sounds, drums and garage band-style guitar. They have been compared to Joy Division, Interpol, The Talking Heads and Bombay Motorcycle Club. The name Kuang Program comes from cyberpunk writer William Gibson’s science fiction novel “Neuromancer.” The book recently became popular in Korea after presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo quoted it while announcing his candidacy. If you’re unfamiliar with the indie rock duo, check out some songs at www.soundcloud/kuangprogram and www.kuangprogram.net.
Sighborggg are no strangers to the Korean indie music scene, having played numerous festivals and concerts throughout the country, as well as touring China three times.
Tour schedule and ticket info Kuang Program + Sighborggg Nov. 8 Cheonan - Dolce Nov. 9 Daegu - Horus Nov. 10 Busan – To be announced Nov. 11 Seoul - FF More info: www.buskingkorea.com
Lymbyc Systym Jan. 10,11,12 (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) Daegu Urban advance 10,000 /door 15,000
Busan Almost Famous advance 10,000 /door 15,000
Seoul Salon Badabie advance 15,000 /door 20,000
Sighborggg Sighborggg are a U.S.-born math rock duo that are based in Seoul. They’re no strangers to the Korean indie music scene, having played numerous festivals and concerts throughout the country, as well as touring China three times. Smart Shanghai summed up their sound as “Nintendo-ey, a bit math-ey, a bit Aphex Twin-ey and quite neat-o-ey.” The band will bring their live show on the road with Caribou, Zack Hill, YACHT and Xiu Xiu. The guys in Sighborggg have said that they don’t mind how fans spell the band’s name, as long as they keep the letters in the correct order. Ssssighborg, Siiiighborg, Sighhhborg and Siggghborg are all a-okay.
Beach House Jan. 23 (Wednesday) Interpark Theater (near Hapjeong Station) Early bird — 55,000 Advance — 66,000 Door — 77,000
Online For more info on SuperColorSuper, go to www.supercolorsuper.com.
What is Bus King? Through its latest project, Bus King, indie art/promotion/booking organization SuperColorSuper has been working closely with local bands to design domestic tours throughout the country. Bus King is the first intracity booking agency in Korea, assisting bands in all aspects of planning and promotion for each tour. So far, bands can play in up to seven different cities across the country. Previous tours have featured local favorites such as No Respect for Beauty, Yamagata Tweakster, (((10))), Fantastic Drugstore and Black Bag. Bus King makes it possible for bands that regularly play Hongdae clubs to bring their sound to new places and broaden their fan base.
Grimes March. 23 (Saturday) Rolling Hall (Hongdae) Early Bird — 40,000 Advance — 45,000 Door — 54,000
Online For more info or to apply to tour with Bus King, go to www.buskingkorea.com.
Listen to Sighborggg on their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/sighborg.
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SuperColorSuper is alive Concert promoter back on international stage
For years, SuperColorSuper was the premier concert organizer in Korea for affordable, awesome indie music. That’s why we put them on our cover last May. It was a watershed moment for the collective of artists. Arranging concerts with international acts is an expensive business, and one of SCS’s tenants is affordabiity. That means they were always operating an very narrow margins. So even though they were as popular as ever, drawing thousands out to concerts in most cases, they were forced to stop putting on international shows. Over the summer they regrouped, and using the publicity gained from closing down, SCS is roaring back to life this winter with a lineup of great international bands. (Flip back one page to see the winter schedule.) Following is a short interview with Sean Maylone, who, with Violet Her, are the brains behind SuperColorSuper. Groove Korea: SuperColorSuper is relaunching its international shows. For indie music lovers in Korea this is great news. Can you tell us how it came about? Sean Maylone: We came to a difficult spot a few months back with dealing how to find the time and money to go on against the odds. Luckily, we’ve gotten into contact with many, many wonderful supporters — just like how your magazine has helped us realize our vision. This new network of partnerships has made us massively larger than before.
Grimes performs in Korea in March. Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
What can you tell us about the first act you’ll bring in? And for anyone unfamiliar, who would you compare them to? Our first international will be Lymbyc Systym (ex-members Crystal Castles), a returning act we had here two years ago that went over really well. It’s very driving and beautiful instrumental music. It must have been hugely disappointing after SuperColorSuper cancelled its international shows last spring. It was pretty shocking and came with some heavy family news. I ran a gamut of emotions. I felt like “if this is the end, definitely proud with what I did,” and got excited about the challenge. Now you’re back after a short break. How do you feel? I feel like a great big grizzly bear that just got a raise from a higher nature department to be a bald eagle. On one hand I’m concerned with the logistics and paperwork involved, but on the other hand I’m going to be a fucking eagle. SuperColorSuper is more than music. Can you elaborate? I could copy you and just say “SuperColorSuper is more than just music,” right? Or I’ll try better. Everyone involved is an artist/creator of some kind, and we all deeply want the city to feel better for us, as creators and cultural gluttons. The things we organize fall to this point — raising the experience in shows, making infrastructure to bring in and send out artists. Also, if one of us has a dream stuck in their face that keeps flipping its tail out their mouth we do our best to safely surgery it out of them and into the real world.
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White Box director determined to explore his feminine side
Story by Erin Rose Dumes / Photo by Liam Mitchinson
White Box artistic director Desiree Munro told Groove Korea. “‘Edgy’ and White Box Theatre, Seoul’s English-speaking performing arts space, is bringing the “feminist classic” of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” to the stage. ‘controversial’ just became synonymous with the company for a while there. I think those labels were bandied about by people that hadn’t actually been Written in 1879, the play sent shockwaves around Europe due to its sharp (to White Box). It concerns me when people describe our theatre as ‘modern’ criticism of 19th-century marriage norms, and the scandalous plot turn of or ‘contemporary’ because to those who haven’t seen our shows, it conjures a young wife and mother choosing to abandon her family and comfortable up notions of incomprehensible, experimental, elitist crap calling itself ‘art’ — home life in favor of self-education. which is everything we strive not to be.” The themes of this award-winning play are arguably still as relevant today as While it is true that until now, all shows at White Box were from plays wriever, with numerous productions the world over a testament to its popularity and timeless nature. tten in the last 50 years (the majority having been written in the last decade), What may surprise some about this production, however, is that the script Munro explains that “The sole reason for this was because we deliberately was chosen, and will be directed by, White Box co-owner Liam Mitchinson. chose scripts that are accessible and relevant to our audience. With over a decade of experience in theatre, when asked if he felt com‘A Doll’s House,’ despite being written in Norway over a century ago, fits that criterion. The language is easy to understand, the themes are still unfortable illustrating the struggle of women’s rights, Mitchinson took umbrage with the notion that the play is a work that those of his gender can neither comfortably relevant, and it’s an engaging, beautifully written story.” relate to nor appreciate. “I feel more than qualified to direct this piece. The Mitchinson agrees. “Not selecting a play because it was written in 1879 playwright himself made it clear on more than one occasion that he wrote makes about as much sense as selecting a play because it was written in without any conscious thought of making feminist propaganda. He was more 2012. We tell great stories. This is another great story.” interested in portraying humanity as a whole. I’m human, so yes, I feel under those stipulations I may meet the criteria to direct,” he remarked dryly. Details: “A Doll’s House” will run for two weekends, Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and Dec.7-Dec.9 The choice of director is perhaps not the only thing that may raise eyebrows with a special preview performance on Nov. 25. All tickets are 15,000 won. in the performing arts community. Since its opening in 2011, White Box Theatre has garnered a reputation for staging contemporary theatre, leaving For more information, bookings and a map to the theatre, go to the classic texts of Shakespeare and Wilde for other companies to tackle. So www.probationarytheatre.com. why the sudden change of heart? “We never claimed to be the ‘contemporary’ theatre company of Seoul,”
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Nash Ang’s Pyongyang adventure An expat filmmaker gets a glimpse of North Korea Story by Ben Landau / Photos by Nash Ang
On the eve of his film screening, Nash Ang was nowhere near the foreign films on the big screen. Well-off North Koreans flock to the event, cinema. paying as much as $5 to see new films from home and international Instead, he found himself in the mountains outlying Pyongyang, pop- releases from India, Germany and elsewhere. ping balloons like a grade-schooler with other foreign tourists. The eveWhile ostensibly the event has much in common with other internaning’s program had called for camp games, so sure enough there he was, tional festivals, there are a few key differences. Foreign films are often miles away from where he should’ve been — an award-winning filmmaker censored and tend to emphasize themes of loyalty, family values and the trying to burst a balloon using only his midsection. perils of capitalism. Homegrown movies mix communist propaganda with To say that this is not what he had expected would be more than an tearjerker drama. understatement. The Filipino national and current graduate student at the In many ways, Ang’s movie “Live to Dive” fits the criteria of the former. Korea National University of Arts had brought his film “Live to Dive (Lu- “From North Korea’s perspective, ‘Dive’ is a story about the horrors of song)” to North Korea, with the intention of experiencing “real cultural capitalism, so I guess that’s the reason it was accepted,” said Ang, who exchange.” He was excited to hobnob with other foreign filmmakers and was invited to this year’s PIFF in September. “I wasn’t surprised.” show off his latest documentary, but as he quickly discovered, this was no The hour-long documentary follows two boys, Totoy, 11, and Pirot, 10, ordinary film festival — it was North Korea’s film festival. as they dive the murky waters of the Philippine island of Puting Bato for Held biannually since 1987, the Pyongyang International Film Festival scrap metal and plastic, putting health and safety at great risk to support is a rare opportunity for residents of the so-called Hermit Kingdom to view their families.
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Ang’s first step toward PIFF came while he was showing a different film, “Water Ghetto” at the DMZ International Documentary Festival in 2011. Although he didn’t win the grand prize, consolation came in the form of a full scholarship to the Korea National University of Arts, the nation’s most prestigious art school. It was there where he learned about the festival. Initially, the plan was to have his film play simultaneously at both the DMZ festival and PIFF, as both run the same week in September. That’s one film, one date, screening in two different countries. Ultimately it didn’t end up working, but on Sept. 1 he was notified of his acceptance and invited to Pyongyang. While quite the opportunity, this presented a glaring problem for the young auteur. “I only heard that my film was going to be in the official selection 20 days before the festival began. As a student, I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to raise 1 to 2 million won to go to Beijing and then Pyongyang, in such a short time?” While big festivals like Cannes and Sundance offer financial and logistical support to filmmakers, PIFF’s budget is considerably smaller. Like other artists at the festival, he had to pay for his own flight to North Korea, via Beijing. So Ang turned to the expat community for assistance. “What I did was, I organized a fundraising screening September 14th. It was only four days before my flight, so it was a risk, but thankfully, with the help of Pinoy Scholars South Korea, Representative Jasmine Lee, and the expat community, I gathered enough money to go.” With the assistance of a cryptic Chinese contact named “John” and Koryo Tours, a Beijing travel agency specializing in trips to the secluded state, Ang made his plans. He bought his ticket the next day and, ignoring numerous appeals from his friends to stay home, he was off. In Beijing he couch surfed to save money. It was then that he began reflecting about the many potential troubles ahead. He worried about his entrance into the country and what might happen at the airport. What if they somehow knew about his ties to South Korea? Would they think he was a spy?
“Film can help North Koreans open their minds about the world outside their country. I hope I can play a role in that.” —Nash Ang
“I was really scared at first. I’m a South Korean government scholar at a state university. The government pays me to study at their institution, so it’s kind of sensitive.” Despite his worries, the internal struggle did not last long. He visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea embassy in Beijing to pick up his visa on the morning of the 20th and by the afternoon, he was in the air.
Across the border Ang was immediately struck by the differences he saw. “Just entering the plane I felt it. It was like the 1970s. The old-fashioned music, the flight attendants with curly Michael Jackson hair, I really felt the time warp.” After an hour-and-a-half flight, he was in the nation’s capital. At the airport, Ang broke his first of many rules. For the relentlessly inquisitive filmmaker, this would prove to be something of a pattern during the trip. “At Pyongyang International Airport we needed to deposit our mobile phones because communication devices are not allowed inside. For some reason though, they said iPads were allowed. So I thought to myself, wait, my phone is a Galaxy Note, so it’s a little bit bigger but it’s a phone, maybe I can bring it in.
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So since I’m kind of a tech-nerd I hid all the phone features and when the customs guy checked it I said, ‘Okay, it’s a tablet.’ It passed through their customs, no problem.” Now in Pyongyang, the largest city in the DPRK with over 3 million people, Ang was shocked by his retrograde surroundings: “Fashion, infrastructure, transportation, everything was old-fashioned.” Like all tourists to North Korea (technically Ang was a delegate but he was treated the same as other travelers), he was paired up with a personal “tour guide” and asked to follow a long list of rules: no taking photos unless first cleared by a guide, no speaking to citizens, no leaving your hotel at night, etc.
“Our hotel was like an island — you needed to walk for at least 20 minutes to just to enter the city. It was dangerous, but still, curious as a cat I went outside. Finally I got to meet North Koreans in Pyongyang.” —Nash Ang
Although he had come to the DPRK with all intentions of spending most of his time at the cinema, he soon found that the festival grounds, like most things, were off-limits. “I thought it would be a film festival, but it turned out to be a tour. I only watched one film. And even that was only because I requested it specifically. The movie didn’t even have subtitles!” So instead of taking part in the festival, Ang’s group, comprising other foreign delegates and tourists, went on a countrywide propaganda tour. As 2012 is the 100th anniversary year of Kim Il Sung’s birth, much of the sightseeing centered on the country’s exalted founder. “We pretty much only went to places about Kim Il Sung: Kim Il Sung’s birthplace, Kim Il Sung’s monument, Kim Il Sung’s museum of film, etc. We even went to a friendship museum full of preserved gifts from world leaders to Kim Il Sung.” When accompanying North Koreans saw statues of “The Eternal President,” they bowed deeply, he said. Some shed tears. Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
In addition to the tour’s vigorous promotion of Kim Il Sung, visitors were also shown select areas of the countryside. One day, during a tour of one of Pyongyang’s surrounding mountains, Mt. Myohyang, the group was brought to a special show temple and church, complete with an ersatz monk and priest posing for photos. In North Korea, there is no religion, only the belief in “juche,” or self-reliance, which acts as a de facto religion, political ideology and lifestyle all in one. In place of viewing films, he took a luxury boat cruise, sang karaoke and saw the 2012 Mass Games live — a spectacle of immense proportions where over 100,000 performers form mosaic images of the nation’s history using only their bodies. The Mass Games are performed in May Day Stadium, the highest-capacity seating stadium in the world. Over 150,000 people go each year to witness the extravaganza. Many times, he laughed nervously with fellow delegates about being arrested. “The funny thing is, the delegates, when we were talking, everyone told the same jokes. ‘Don’t let this be my last dinner with you,’ or ‘If I don’t arrive home on October 1st, call the police, maybe I’m in a prison camp.’” Perhaps they should have been worried. As Ang quickly realized, most of his fellow “tourists” were just journalists and everyone was being as roguish as him. One member of the group was from the BBC, another from a prominent magazine, and they were all trying to find interviews or take the best, unauthorized photos. The latter was particularly difficult. If someone took a questionable photo, tour guides would ask to “borrow” their camera. This sometimes led to mass deletion. “When we entered the theater to watch the only film we could see from the festival (a Bollywood movie), my guide asked me to give her my camera so she could put it behind the counter. In the back of my mind I thought she might delete something, but I wasn’t sure. I started thinking of all the shots I had taken but couldn’t think of anything too bad. After finishing the movie, I immediately checked my camera and all the photos were gone. ‘What happened, why did you delete them?’ I asked her. ‘What? What are you talking about?’ she answered with faux-surprise. ‘I just left it there.’” Fortunately for Ang, he had already backed up his photos at the hotel. While situations like this may have spooked some, it only increased Ang’s
resolve to see the “real” North Korea, to somehow communicate directly with civilians. On one of his last nights, after saying goodbye to his guide for the evening, he decided to break loose. “Our hotel was like an island. You needed to walk for at least 20 minutes to just to enter the city. It was dangerous, but still, curious as a cat I went outside. “Finally I got to meet North Koreans in Pyongyang.”
The real Pyongyang Ang, who can speak intermediate-level Korean, chatted up locals at a food stand. His documentary instincts kicked in, and he started asking questions. “Of course they rarely see foreigners so everyone was staring at me, and I definitely stand out. What I wore there is what I wear here, so, very flashy.” After some pleasant, if reserved, conversation he decided to return to the hotel. He paid for the food, exchanging Chinese yuan for North Korean won (a currency usually permitted for North Korean use only), and retraced his steps. Unfortunately for him, a different tour guide caught him outside the hotel, North Korean currency in hand. The guide asked him how he was able to buy the food and it was then that he admitted he could speak Korean. He also told him that he was a Korean exchange student. Security subsequently increased. His guide began calling his hotel multiple times during his free hours, and watched him like a hawk during scheduled activities. In some respects, Pyongyang was a failure for Ang. He only saw one movie, missed his own screening and, due to a scheduling issue with his airline, was unable to attend both the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival. But it wasn’t all bad. Several days after leaving, Ang got an email notifying him that he had received the award for Best Direction, the highest award in the Documentary and Short Movie category. Bizarre experience notwithstanding, Ang takes many positives out of his time in Pyongyang. “Film can help North Koreans open their minds about the world outside their country. I hope I can play a role in that.” The North Korean film council has already proposed a collaboration between the DPRK and the Philippines to make a feature film and they want Ang to be involved. The script, which Ang admits is “sort of propaganda,” is about a Filipino seaman lost in the East Sea who is rescued by North Korea. The man is brought to North Korea and learns about juche ideology. The title of the film, conjured up by the council, is “Luck.” “If that happens, it would be a big milestone,” Ang said. “North Korean films will receive greater promotion. Hopefully, they’ll be known for something other than their attempts to get nuclear weapons or their problems with South Korea and America.”
“Of course they rarely see foreigners so everyone was staring at me, and I definitely stand out. —Nash Ang
Beyond North Korea’s proposal, Ang has a goal of his own: “Since I’m a foreigner filmmaker here in South Korea and both governments seem willing to work with me, maybe I can do a film shot in both North and South Korea. I’ve already sent a script to the North. I don’t know if both sides will agree, but let’s see. Maybe I can bridge the gap through film.” It may be a long shot, but if there’s anyone who can pull it off, it’s Ang. “For me, filmmakers are the eye-openers of the nation, the people who initiate discussion about things that need to be changed when no one else can. That’s what I aim to do.”
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At the box office November releases By Dean Crawford
Skyfall Directed by Sam Mendes
Nov.
1
Action/Thriller 145 minutes
There are three topics of conversation I try to avoid at a party for fear of a heated debate: 1. Which political party you support. 2. Which religion you belong to and 3. Who has played the best James Bond. “Sean Connery!” I hear you cry, which is the most common answer to that last question. While he might well be the most iconic Bond and has starred in some classic films, for me, there is no contest: Daniel Craig’s incarnation of the spy is head and shoulders above the rest. When Craig took over as Bond, I thought he was a breath of fresh air and I loved the new direction taken by “Casino Royale.” It was a new, edgy Bond who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He could snap someone’s neck, then wash the blood off his shirt and return to a game of poker before you could say, “Shaken, not stirred.” Of course, I understood what made Bond such a successful franchise in the first place, but I was never a fan. While “Dr. No” and “The Man with the Golden Gun” are classics in the pantheon of Bond films, I just found the whole series far too campy and oozing with cheese. I would never get that excited every time a new film came around. That all changed when Daniel Craig stepped in to fill the void left by Pierce Brosnan, and I couldn’t wait for the
Argo Directed by Ben Affleck
Nov.
1
Drama/Thriller 120 minutes
One of the biggest films of the year is likely to be “Breaking Dawn: Part 2,” the conclusion to the long-running “Twilight Saga.” And with the revelation of K-Stew’s infidelity, it literally has become a saga. Regular readers of this column will know of my disdain for the “Twilight” franchise and how poor I think these films are. So I’ve decided not to talk about “Twilight” and not tell you how “New Moon” and “Breaking Dawn: Part 1” were two of the worst big-budget films I’ve ever seen. And I will not tell you how I think “Breaking Dawn: Part 2” will be the worst film of the year. Nope. I’m not going to tell you any of that. Instead, I’m going to talk about Ben Affleck’s “Argo.” When Matt Damon and Ben Affleck first burst onto the scene 15 years ago, they were regarded as a breath of fresh air. Cocky, yet charming, good looking and intelligent, it seemed as if they could do no wrong as they walked away with the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for “Good Will Hunting.” While Matt Damon continued to grow and gain worldwide fame and success, Ben Affleck never received the same kind of success or acclaim, despite becoming a bona fide A-lister. Basically, you got the impression that people just didn’t like him. This may have been down to the public perception of Affleck being more interested in fame, summed up by his glitzy Hollywood
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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follow-up to “Casino Royale.” Sadly, I thought “Quantum of Solace” was a massive disappointment. All action and no plot, the film could have easily been an additional 20 minutes at the end of “Casino Royale” instead of being an overlong, drawn-out film. I think the producers realized this, too, as they hired Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes to take over the reins, which was surely a sign they wanted to focus a little more on character development. The 23rd Bond film, titled “Skyfall,” sees James Bond presumed dead after a mission gone wrong in Istanbul and focuses on the subsequent identity leak of every undercover MI6 agent onto the Internet. From here, skyfall-movie.com tells us that “Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.” With MGM’s financial troubles behind it, it finally seems that everything is falling into place for the 23rd outing of the world’s most famous spy. With an Oscar-winning director, the return of Daniel Craig, and Javier Bardem playing the film’s villain, I am very excited for “Skyfall.”
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relationship with Jennifer Lopez, or a string of bad films such as “Gigli,” “Reindeer Games” or “Daredevil” (which I don’t think is actually that bad, and I would recommend you watch the director’s cut if you haven’t already). After staying out of the limelight for a few years, Affleck returned and started to get some of the credit I thought he deserved. He was praised for a solid performance in “Hollywoodland,” playing tragic actor George Reeves, then he made his directorial debut in the excellent noir-thriller “Gone Baby Gone.” His second directorial effort was the Oscar-nominated heist film, “The Town,” which proved to the world that he is a genuinely talented guy. He is now returning with “Argo.” Set in 1979 during the Iranian hostage crisis, it’s the true story of how the CIA invented a fake sci-fi film to rescue six American officials from Iran hiding in the Canadian ambassador’s residence. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the mastermind behind the plan, and is accompanied by a stellar cast that includes Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin. Already being tipped as a Best Picture winner, “Argo” is to be released on Nov. 1. And whether you’re still an Affleck hater or not, it’s bound to be better than “Twilight”!
Korean DVD corner November reviews By Dean Crawford
Helpless (화차) Directed by Byeon Yeong-ju
Rated
18
Drama / Thriller 157 minutes
Picture the scene: You have just met your soul mate and are madly in love. You’ve been together for two years and are set to be married. En route to your father’s house, your fiancée suddenly goes missing and all traces of her seem to have disappeared. How much did you really know about her? This is the question that is asked in Byeon Yeong-ju’s thriller “Helpless,” which is adapted from the novel by Miyabe Miyuki and stars Kim Min-hee, Lee Seon-gyeon and Jo Seong-ha. Jang Mun-ho (Lee Seon-gyeon) and his fiancée Kang Seon-young (Kim Min-hee) have just gotten engaged. Excited about their news, they are driving to Andong to see Mun-ho’s parents. They are clearly in love and are looking forward to their new life together. They stop at a service station for coffee, but when Mun-ho returns to the car, he finds the engine still running and his fiancée missing. There is no sign of her except for her hairpin in the bathroom. Clearly shaken, Mun-ho reports her missing to the police. He goes to Seon-young’s apartment, but it has been stripped bare and all her belongings are gone. Something is clearly wrong. This is when he hires Kim Jong-geun (Jo Seng-ha), his cousin and a disgraced former cop, to search for her. What he finds is disturbing, as he discovers that his Seon-young is not actually who she claimed to be and the
Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time Directed by Yun Jong-bin
Rated
18
Crime / Thriller 133 minutes
“The Korean mob film Scorsese would be proud of” is the description Time Magazine gave Yun Jong-bin’s No. 1 box office smash “Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time.” The film pairs two of Korea’s biggest actors: Choi Min-sik from “Oldboy” and Ha Jeong-woo from “The Chaser.” Based on the true story of the Korean government’s attempts to crack down on organized crime, “Nameless Gangster” follows corrupt customs officer Choi Ik-hyeon. The opening scene shows him being escorted in handcuffs and thrown into jail, being hounded by a prosecutor to confess to his crimes. But what crimes is he talking about? And how did Choi arrive at this situation? The film uses flashbacks to travel back and forth through time to tell the story. Choi and his coworkers are no strangers to taking the odd bribe, but when the order comes down to fire one of the customs employees to appease the politicians, Choi is the one who gets the chop. After stumbling across a shipment of heroin, Choi meets up with one of the biggest gangsters in Busan, Choi Hyeong-bae, who happens to be a distant relative from the same Choi clan. After seeing Ik-hyeon’s ability to handle himself in certain situations, Hyeong-bae takes him under his wing and makes him part of his gangster family. As Ik-hyeon says, they are the perfect combination of brains and brawn. With Ik-hyeon’s connections going all the way up to the highest echelons of government, some of the many fran-
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real Kang Seon-young was reported missing three years earlier. It transpires that everything Mun-ho knew about his fiancée is false: her job, her references, her family and her life. As Mun-ho and Jong-geun continue to search for his missing fiancée, all the pieces of this intriguing puzzle start to fall into place as the mystery unravels. Unlike other Korean thrillers I’ve seen recently, the plot of “Helpless” continues to unfold as the film progresses, as opposed to an early reveal followed by copious amounts of needless action to keep the viewer entertained. The plot is slow-burning, and the viewer is put in the same position as the lead characters, in the sense that we know what they know as they learn it. When they find a new clue, it’s the same for us, meaning that we are equally engaged in the mystery and eager to see a conclusion. I was pleasantly surprised with the direction from Byeon Yeong-ju, as she used some rather unconventional establishing shots and some interesting camera angles, almost Hitchock-ian, which also added to the film’s sense of unease. If you’re a fan of the thriller genre, I would highly recommend you get “Helpless” on DVD. But just make sure you set aside some time, as the film deserves your full attention.
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chises they take over are a nightclub in Busan and a casino. These deeds are aided by the Choi clan connections with the Japanese yakuza, taking their family and business to the next level and firmly cementing them as two of the biggest mobsters in Korea. So much success obviously comes at a price, as some of their business encroaches on rival gangster Kim Pan-ho’s turf, forcing a gang war and a bid for power. With each side offering some serious beatings for the other, Ik-hyeon is caught in the middle at every turn. As the mob war escalates, so does pressure from the police and government, and Ik-hyeon is forced to choose between his blood family, his gangster family and his desire to be the boss. As you would expect, the two lead actors are excellent and have a great chemistry. Choi Min-sik plays Ik-hyeon as a sympathetic character, whereas Ha Jeong-woo’s Hyeong-bae is a scary, violent thug. With obvious nods to classic gangster movies such as “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “The Godfather,” this is a solid gangster film that impresses and uses humor at times to distance itself and become its own film. Though I do feel like it could have been about 20 minutes shorter, “Nameless Gangster” is a thoroughly enjoyable film and an interesting insight into the true story of the Korean criminal underworld.
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mugs
Starbucks has new tumblers,
New Hunminjeongeum tumbler and City Mugs available nationwide
The mugs come in 5 different designs inspired by Korea’s largest and most emblematic cities. The mugs, in several sizes and styles, are now available in all Starbuck stores.
Busan
Seoul (Day)
Incheon
Starbucks recently unveiled an updated version of its best-selling Korean script tumbler. Known as Hunminjeongeum, it was released on Oct. 9 to commemorate Hangeul Day, and is available at Starbucks stores across Korea. Gilt lettering is incorporated on traditional Korean paper that is handmade from Mulberry trees. Each tumbler comes with an information leaflet in both Korean and English. The City Mug design is also available at all Starbucks stores across Korea. This best-selling mug is known for its views of Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Jeju Island. Ever since its release in 2004 in Starbucks Insadong location, the City Mugs have grown
Jeju
in popularity amongst tourists and expats from all around the world. The Seoul City Mug captures day and night scenes of Sungnyemun, Namdaemun, Bosingak and palaces together with contemporary architecture such as the Seoul N-Tower. The new tumbler and the mugs hare available at over 470 locations nationwide, including in the Insadong, Gwanghwamun, Anguk and Kyungbok Palace stores that have their signboards in Korean script. Awarded as Korean Language Guardians by the Hangeul Cultural Association (www.urimal.org), the four stores are decorated with rafters and traditional windows and doors.
Starbucks best-selling tumbler, Hunminjeongeum
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Seoul (Night)
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CAPTURING KOREA
mankind & nature Waon Beach, South Jeolla Province
Photos by Mark Eaton
Capturing Korea Groove Korea is teaming up with the Seoul Photo Club to give readers tips on where to get the best snaps on the peninsula. Our photographers will share their secrets on how and where they shoot. For more information on this and the Photo Challenge, head over to the Seoul Photo Club on Flickr: flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Title: Home From the Harvest Camera: Canon EOS 5D Lens: Canon EF24-85mm USM ISO: 200 Aperture: f4.5 SS: 1/250
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Title: Remembrance Camera: Canon EOS 5D Lens: Canon EF24-85mm USM ISO: 200 Aperture: f11 Shutter Speed: 1/60
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Title: Suncheon Bay Works II Camera: Canon EOS 5D Lens: Canon EF24-85mm USM ISO: 200 Aperture: f11 SS: 1/40
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Portrait by Joe Wabe
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Photographing
Waon beach Interview by Dylan Goldby
Groove Korea: Tell us a little about Mark Eaton, the man and the photographer. Mark Eaton: Most importantly, I am a husband and a father. I am an American by birth married to a Korean woman, and we have three adult daughters. I graduated from the University of Arizona in a different century. I use Canon ES digital cameras and I rely upon natural or available light only. My photographic work has been exhibited in the United States as well as in South Korea. Some of my work, including my figure nude work, has been published in books and magazines here and abroad. Tell us a little about your inspiration to photograph Korea. What gets you out the door? I prefer the concept of minimalism in photography, and South Korea is a minimalist’s haven if one can redact, in the visual sense, all the unnecessary clutter and noise so common in the country. My goal is to share a story or a metaphor through photography. I have a deep appreciation for water and the sea. My longitudinal photographic work at Waon Beach mostly features the interaction between mankind and nature. In order to compose a story using minimalism as a guide, it is necessary to walk the same trails as the fisherfolks, farmers, harvesters and villagers. You live in a beautiful area. Tell us about your little secret, Waon Bay. Waon Beach faces west into Suncheon Bay. This isn’t a swimming beach; it is a working beach. Unlike its more popular sister, known simply as Suncheon Bay, which entertains visitors by the thousands, Waon Beach sees far fewer visitors, yet its character and beauty is deep. Much of the fishing village has been built on the slopes of the mountain, and that means space is at a premium. Even though Waon Beach isn’t all that far from Suncheon, it is a rural area that sees a lot of agricultural work. It is being discovered, however, as a couple of guest houses and pensions have been built recently on the slopes overlooking the beach. There is a five-storied resort that has a very nice restaurant on the top floor with a phenomenal view of Suncheon Bay and the setting sun. Waon Beach is my most visited locale to photograph all things related to the sea. It isn’t crowded with tourists, so I’ve never been jostled or bumped once while there.
What is your favorite time to get out there, and how can we recreate these spectacular images of yours? I prefer to visit Waon during, or shortly after, a storm. The broad expanse of Suncheon Bay at this location provides so many great scenes and compositions that cannot be realized in many areas of South Korea due to the mountainous terrain of the country. Additionally, the low tide shows the design elements in unique ways that combine the natural with the man made. Interestingly, a wise decision was made by someone to build an enclosed structure adjacent to a parking lot used by visitors. This structure is spacious and it has large sliding-glass windows that provide an almost perfect view out onto Suncheon Bay while at the same time protecting a photographer’s gear during storms. That restaurant on the top floor of the resort I mentioned earlier has many areas from which to photograph during different types of weather. What’s the best tip you can give to a photographer heading down your way? I have photographed at Waon Beach during the differing four seasons. It should be noted that photographing in the area during the winter requires effective and appropriate winter clothing. The winds blow with great strength from the sea onto land, and my wife is amazed at how easily the winds can move my considerable bulk. And that wet wind is a bit chilly. I will not use my tripod in this winter wind. It should be noted I have much respect for the men and women who harvest the sea in this area during the winter season. I always bring my own food and water when I travel to Waon Beach, because there just are not that many corner markets to stroll into when thirst and hunger strike. Because it is rural, it gets dark in a hurry; a strong flashlight with extra batteries are essential items found in my camera bag. Two bus lines run from Suncheon to Waon, beyond, and back: the 97 bus and the 98 bus are the Suncheon City municipal buses that travel great distances carrying passengers and goods.
Directions to Suncheon City
Online
Board the KTX express train from Yongsan Station in Seoul.
To see more of his work, go to his website http://eatonmark.com.
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E N T E R TA I N M E N T
Copyright Larry Rodney/Neil Garscadden 2012 (www.charismaman.com)
By Lee Scott / See more of his work at: www.thethreewisemonkeys.com
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Across 1. A brilliant colored parrot 6. Spermal fluid 11. Donkey 14. Sporting venue 15. Fragrance 16. Play a role 17. Having an illustrious reputation 19. Fish eggs 20. Intersect 21. Coral island 23. Comfort 27. A woman with straw-colored hair
How to play 28. In a remarkable manner 32. Not now 33. Not division 34. A sound made by a cat 37. You (archaic) 38. A king of ancient Crete (Greek mythology) 39. Heroic tale 40. Unhappy 41. An Asian pepper plant 42. Longs 43. Ore specialist 45. Foretell 48. Rich in decorative detail
49. Pertaining to modern day Persia 50. Brittle or crisp 53. Rodent 54. Vibration 60. East southeast 61. Accepted practice 62. Spoon-shaped vessel with a long handle 63. A potent estrogen 64. Feel 65. A type of shovel
22. Child’s plaything 23. River deposits 24. City in Nebraska 25. Chose 26. Tall woody plant 27. Wagers 29. A series of connected rooms 30. Closer to the center 31. A stringed instrument 34. Craze 35. Eliminate from the body 36. Garbage 38. Fix 39. Informational panel or display 41. Relating to bile 42. Entranceways
43. Adult male 44. Hang laxly 45. Engaged for employment 46. Delete 47. Fees 50. Glance over 51. Hogs 52. To the windward side 55. South southeast 56. Faucet 57. Anagram of “Aid” 58. Not young 59. Born
Sudoku requires no calculation or arithmetic skills. It is essentially a game of placing numbers in squares, using very simple rules of logic and deduction.
Objective The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game: • Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. • Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. • Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9.
Down 1. Geographic illustration 2. Arrangement (abbrev.) 3. C 4. Answer (abbrev.) 5. Voyeur 6. Powdery starch used as a food thickener 7. Anagram of “Sire” 8. Cow sounds 9. Flightless bird 10. By the nose 11. Brother of Moses 12. Reprimand 13. An ancient upright inscribed stone slab 18. Angers
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Photo Challenge This month’s challenge: Black & White
Winner: S M Shajjad Hossain Shajib Shot in: Namdaemun Street, Seoul Exif Info: 50mm 1/200 f/6.3 ISO800 Compete in the Photo Challenge for a chance to win a 50,000 won voucher from Kasan Camera. Go to the Seoul Photo Club’s website for more information. www.flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Horoscopes November 2012
Aries / March 20 - April 20
Libra / September 24 - October 23
This could be a stressful month. There will be tension when dealing with others, and perhaps upsets regarding your career. You could feel like your world is in turmoil and go through a personal crisis. Pay closer attention to managing your stress and taking care of your body. Eat healthily, get plenty of rest, and pace yourself.
Many factors will contribute to tension and stress this month. Difficulties may arise at home and with your family and partner. You’ll need a great deal of patience and diplomacy in order to keep things in balance. Further problems will stir up when dealing with others, and you might struggle with self-esteem issues temporarily.
Taurus / April 21 - May 21
Scorpio / October 24 - November 22
Expect to feel defensive and argumentative when dealing with the public or someone close. You’ll be irritable and find it hard to be patient. Your social life will be busy and you’ll have to juggle many commitments and responsibilities. You’ll be a good listener and remember many details when you meet new people.
This month you’ll be active and busy as well as eager to get going on new projects. Plan a trip with someone close to visit friends or family early in the month. Then concentrate more on making business connections with people who can help you. Don’t hesitate to sell yourself and be proactive. You’ll be gifted with productive meetings.
Gemini / May 22 - June 21
Sagittarius / November 23 - December 21
A positive attitude and faith in the future will help you feel good about your life this month. A strong desire to help others and live ethically will inspire trust when dealing with others. You’ll have strong opinions but willingly listen to other points of view. You may feel like bickering and have a critical attitude toward family members.
Find a positive attitude toward relationships and faith in other people. There may be power struggles, especially with your partner. Life may be especially unpredictable this month. You could develop an unexpected crush on someone or come up with sudden insights out of the blue. Network confidently and build your career.
Cancer / June 22 - July 22
Capricorn / December 22 - January 19
You’ll be empathetic, supportive toward others and willing to do anything to help if needed this month. At the same time, you’ll find that others will do the same for you when asked. However, there may be someone in your life who’s critical and demanding, perhaps a spouse. Take the comments in stride.
Life at home will be unstable and tense this month. You could feel uneasy for weeks, culminating in an argument or crisis. Be empathetic if someone is having difficulties. Try not to be too judgmental and do your best to smooth over interpersonal relations. Later in the month you’ll have to make more of an effort to cooperate.
Leo / July 23 - August 23
Aquarius / January 20 - February 18
This month will bring opportunities for romance and you’ll be popular and charming. There could be arguments at home or with your parents during this time. You’ll be irritable and restless, but you’ll get a lot done around your living space. You will find a sense of being inspired and supported by the people in your circle.
You’ll be in a great mood and feeling positive when it comes to love this month. There will be many opportunities to meet a new love interest or spend quality time with your partner. You may experience some tension with a loved one, but much of the stress can be alleviated if you’re tactful and kind. Make some compromises.
Virgo / August 24 - September 23
Pisces / February 19 - March 19
This month tests your personal power and influence. You’ll be articulate and organized and pay attention to detail. You’ll be busy attending events and getting involved in initiatives, and have opportunities for networking. You’ll have to make time for this, which means you may have to sacrifice other activities.
There might be a chance for a new connection with someone nice. Personal growth will be possible while you’re learning how to stand firm in your beliefs. This month could bring power struggles, But at the same time other factors may bring out your sensitive, artistic and intuitive nature. Cope with everyday events and responsibilities
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S E O U L BUS AN
Sheraton Grande Walkerhill
Grand Hilton Seoul
‘Camping in the city’
Thanksgiving Festive Menu
Sheraton Grande Walkerhill promotes “Camping in the city” for people who wish to enjoy camping in a forest within the city. It is available from Oct. 12. The Han River park is the main venue. Premium quality camping equipment is provided as well as top-quality fresh ingredients for a barbecue. For your own grilling experience, there are three courses priced from 80,000 won to 170,000 won. Quality lobster, beef tenderloin, black pork meat and king prawn are included on the menu. Vegetables, green salads, kimchi, spicy seafood noodle soup and seasonal fruits are also provided for each menu. Campers can enjoy playing futsal, mini golf and badminton. In every tent, board games and MP3 speakers are available. “Camping in the city” is simply what you need to release your stress and enjoy nature, quality meals and, importantly, your company. For more information, contact (02) 455-5000. Reservation in advance required.
The Grand Hilton Seoul is featuring two very special Thanksgiving Festive Menus this Thanksgiving. On Nov. 22 at 6 p.m., its famous Buffet Restaurant is offering a mouthwatering spread of traditional golden-roasted turkey, crispy salads mixed with raspberry, French, olive oil and balsamic syrup dressings, as well as tuna, beef and turkey burgers, roasted beef with port wine sauce and prime rib eye steak. Guests also receive a complimentary glass of wine. The all-day dining restaurant Atrium Café is also offering a Thanksgiving special for guests wanting to enjoy a meal in the ambiance of its wide skylight ceiling and harmonious music. Guests can sample a variety of dishes from the salad bar as well as a traditional main of roast turkey — complemented perfectly with glasses of Californian and Australian wine. For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 2287-8270~1.
Novotel Ambassador Busan
Lotte Hotel Busan
Featured champagne
Sweet & Relax Suite packages
Le Bouchon, the newly renovated bar and lounge at Novotel Ambassador Busan, reintroduces its best-selling champagnes for special occasions during November and December. Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut Rich with peach, apricot and apple extracts combined with lemon and grape flavors presents fresh tastes. Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque offers tangerine, peach, pear and exotic fruity flavors. The champagnes come with canapé worthy of 20,000 won. The menu starts at 128,000 won. For reservations and inquiry, contact 051-743-1243.
The Sweet & Relax Suite package includes access to a club lounge offering breakfast, afternoon tea, and a happy hour. Stay in the hotel’s Deluxe Suite. Busan-bound KTX or airplane ticket holders issued on the date of check-in will be given a 50,000 won discount. A variety of fruits and snacks will be served with Chile’s finest wine, Cousino Macul, in a Luxury Sweet room. Premium Laundry Service promises your suits, ties and shirts look brand new within 24 hours. The highlight of the package is a chauffeured limousine service up to 10 hours. Package is priced from 270,000 won and 500,000 won (tax and service charges excluded). For reservations and inquiry, contact 051-810-1100.
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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WHERE TO PICK up GROOVE KOREA Now,
Pick it up at your local
Starbucks
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
Lance&J PT/Fitness
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WOORIDUL hospital World top quality center for neuro-musculoskeletal diseases
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ESARANG DENTAL
UPENNIVY DENTAL
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SMARt dental
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YEIN DENTAL One-stop dental care with the best location at the City Hall. 02-756-2828
BIG ROCK Premium craft beers from Alberta Canada 02-539-6650
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CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) The legendary pizza from Beverly Hills California 02-3479-9000
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NOVA SKIN CLINIC Korea’s leading skin care and hair loss specialists 02-563-7977
TRICARE member. English speaking dentist. 02-797-7784
MizMedi Hospital World class health care for women
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Lucy Hair Hair consultant trained in UK 02-325-2225
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DOS TACOS Simply the best Mexican restaurant in Korea 02-593-5904
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CAFE 4b/monomo International café and Japanese Ramen restaurant
SEOUL Itaewon 3 Alley Pub All American Diner Amigo Bar Bliss BBB Korea Berlin Bistro Praha Bricx Bungalow CasAntonio Cold Stone Creamery Copacabana Cup & Bowl Don Valley Flying Pan Gecko’s Garden Gecko’s Terrace Gobble n’ Go Healing Hands Hollywood Grill Hillside Holy Chow International Clinic Itaewon Global Center Village La Bocca La Cigale Montmartre Loco Loca Meili’s Deli Moghul My Thai Nashville Neal’s Yard Old Stompers Pattaya Quiznos Rocky Mountain Tavern Santorini Seoul Club Skywellness Chiropractic Smokey Saloon Solution Sortino’s Taco Amigo Tony’s Aussie Bar What The Book Wolfhound Zelen
TG Brunch Thunder Burger Yongsan Recycle Center Yoons’ Oriental Clinic Café JeJe Dojo Noxa Loung
Gangnam, Sinsa & Chungdam areas AOC Baram plastic surgery Big Rock California Pizza Kitchen CK Chiropractic Dos Tacos Dublin Irish Pub Dunhill Hushu dental & skin clinic Jaseng Oriental Hospital Nova Skin Clinic Once in a blue moon Smart Dental Clinic TengTeng Skin Clinic Yonsei Mi Dental Clinic
Konkuk University Café 4B Monomo
Hongdae & Sinchon aA museum café Agio Beer O’clock Castle Praha Dos Tacos Hair & Joy Mike’s Cabin On The Border Tin Pan Yonsei Mi Dental Clinic Zen Art Center
BUNDANG & YONGIN
HBC, Kyungridan & Yongsan-gu
Underground Batman bar Travelers
Buddha’s Belly Chakraa Chili Chili Tacos Craftworks Green Banana HBC Gogitjib Hillside Pub Hwang Mi Seo foot care Istanbul Itaewon Animal Hospital Jacoby’s Jamba Juice Latte King Lazy Sue Le Vert Naked Grill Phillies Phillies Steak Res2Go Standing Coffee
Restaurants & Cafes
BUSAN Basement Breeze Burn’s Fuzzy Navel (Haeundae) Kino Eye (Daeyeon-dong) Mojo (Jangjeon-dong) Rock N Roll (Bujeon-dong) Taco Family (Jangjeon-dong) The SKOOL (Woo-dong) Wolfhound (Haeundae)
DAEGU Dijon The Holy Grill Bennigan’s (Dongsung-ro Branch) Novotel Daegu
Bars
Companies
Hospitals & Clinics
INCHEON Fog City International Cafe
DAEJEON Cantina
ILSAN Big Bread Yonsei Joshua Clinic
JEONJU Jeonju English Center
JEJU Zapata’s (Jeju city) Jeju tourism offices
CHUNGJU Road King
FRANCHISES Starbucks Dos Tacos Jamba Juice California Pizza Kitchen HBC Gogitjib Breeze Burn’s Wolfhound Cold Stone Creamery Quiznos
Hospitals & Health Clinics Lee Moon Won Oriental Clinic (Chungdam-dong) Seoul National Univ. Gangnam Health Center (Yeoksam-dong) Gangnam Severance Hospital (Dogok-dong) Wooridul Spine Hospital (Chungdam-dong) MizMedi Women’s Hospital (Daechi-dong) Samsung Medical Center (Ilwon-dong) NOVA Skin Clinic (Gangnam stn) Oracle Skin Clinic (Gangnam stn) UPennIvy Dental Clinic (Ichon-dong) ESARANG Dental Clinic (Gongduk-dong) Yein Dental Clinic (City Hall) A Plus Dental (Shinsa-dong) TUFT Denatal (Samsung-dong) TengTeng Skin Clinic (Shinsa-dong) CK Chiropractic (Nonhyeon-dong) Yonsei Mi Dental Clinic (Hongdae & Shinsa-dong) Healing Hands (Itaewon)
US ARMY BASES Yongsan Garrison Pyeongtaek Camp Humphreys Osan AB Chinhae Naval Base Daegu Camp Walker
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES Incheon International Air Ports Kimpo Airports Korea Tourism Organization Seoul City Hall Daegu City Hall Gangnam-gu Tourism Office Seoul Global Center TBS eFM station
HOTELS Lotte Hotel Seoul Lotte Hotel Busan Grand Hilton Novotel Ambassador Gangnam Westin Chosun Hotel Grand Hyatt Hotel Seoul Somerset Palace Seoul JW Marriott Hotel Seoul Astoria Hotel (Myung-dong) Hamilton Hotel Novotel Ambassador Busan The Ritz-Carlton Seoul Millennium Hilton Oakwood Premier Coex Center Han Suites Serviced Residences Hyatt Regency Incheon The MVL (Yeosu) Hotel Inter-Bulgo (Daegu) Sea Cloud Hotel Busan InterContinental Alpensia Resort (Pyeongchang)
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Korea’s N.1 english magazine
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Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73
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Music & Arts
Groove Korea Magazine / November 2012 • Issue 73